Assessing changing consumer preferences for livestock production processes

Abstract

• Today's savvy consumer is increasingly removed from farming and food production but has taken heightened interest in how their food is produced. Consumers place particular interest in the practices surrounding the raising of livestock for meat and milk products. • Livestock producers today are facing increased pressure from regulations and market movements to alter (or reconsider) livestock rearing practices. • Communication between producers and consumers has become strained in many cases. Livestock producers have spent decades aiming to increase efficiencies, yet are oftentimes challenged, and even criticized, by consumers who are increasingly unfamiliar with the realities of modern-day livestock production. • The increased production costs associated with measures to improve animal welfare leads to a number of questions surrounding how those costs will be paid, when, and by whom.