Farmers' preferences for organic milk production in Izmir, Turkey

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine farmers' preference for organic milk production and the factors influencing the degree of farmer preferences in Turkey. The data were obtained from a survey of 96 farmers in Izmir, Turkey. The study was conducted using a two-stage methodology. First, fuzzy pair-wise comparison was applied to calculate the degree of preference. Five important factors were hypothesized to affect the transition to organic milk production; the producers were asked to make pair-wise comparisons among these factors. The reasons for farmers' preferences were then determined using a seemingly unrelated regression. The results showed that the most important factors for producers are health of consumer and guarantee of sale. Preferences for these factors are mainly influenced by producers' level of education and farm size. © 2010 Academic Journals Inc.