Consumer preferences for verified dairy cattle management practices in processed dairy products

A choice experiment was used to determine consumer value for three verified production processes for dairy cows used to produce milk for yogurt and ice cream. Willingness to pay for verified production process attributes varied for both yogurt and ice cream across attributes and verifying entity. Differences in willingness to pay by verification entity or across products may be due to inherent differences between yogurt and ice cream, consumer perception of verifiers being linked to specific attributes or products, and/or negative past media attention. Significant differences in consumer valuation for the verified attributes (relative to the product price levels) were found between yogurt and ice cream in all but one of the verified attributes investigated. Differences in consumer preferences for the production process attributes used on dairy cows were identified across products.