Modeling heterogeneity in preferences for organic rice in China: evidence from a choice experiment

Agricultural production is considered to be one of the main threats to biodiversity. Market-based wildlife-friendly farming (WFF) systems are thought to have great potential to reshape the link between biodiversity and agriculture. In this paper, we explore the potential for WFF rice production in China using choice experiment surveys of consumers and producers. Our results show that there is a significant difference in preferences between urban consumers and rural rice producers. Rice producers pay more attention to the practical concerns around quality (taste), location (ease of working) and prices, while urban consumers pay attention to whether the rice is healthy and free of contamination (e.g. organic or grown with fish). In addition, producers’ price expectations for WFF rice production are not uniform due to different challenges with respect to technology, resource allocation and trust. Preference heterogeniety also exists among urban consumers, some of whom are skeptical of ‘organic labeling’, while others place high levels of trust in rice grown with “biological” indicators such as fish or frogs. Although WFF production systems may not be able to accommodate the full heterogeneity among growers and consumers it can strengthen the incentives to farm more sustainably for the benefit of the economy and the environment if appropriately designed. We suggest the most promising approach is to jointly produce organic rice with fish or another trusted biological indicator to overcome trust issues with existing organic labeling.