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Consumers’ associations, knowledge, and willingness to pay for products from traditional orchard meadows

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 September 2025

Sophia Matthäa Philipp Open the ORCID record for Sophia Matthäa Philipp [Opens in a new window]  and
Katrin Zander Open the ORCID record for Katrin Zander [Opens in a new window]
Sophia Matthäa Philipp*
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural and Food Marketing, Faculty of Organic Agricultural Sciences, https://ror.org/04zc7p361University of Kassel, Witzenhausen, Germany
Katrin Zander
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural and Food Marketing, Faculty of Organic Agricultural Sciences, https://ror.org/04zc7p361University of Kassel, Witzenhausen, Germany
*
Corresponding author: Sophia Matthäa Philipp; Email: sophia.philipp@uni-kassel.de
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Abstract

Traditional cultural landscapes play an important role in providing environmental, economic, social, and cultural values. These sustainable landscapes originate from extensive agricultural activities and need regular maintenance for preservation. They often lack economic viability and are threatened by the huge pressure of agricultural intensification. This study follows the idea of a market-based way of compensation for the cultivation of multifunctional agricultural landscapes by marketing the products of these landscapes. In order to increase consumer demand for products from traditional cultural landscapes, this article aims to identify appropriate communication measures by assessing consumers’ associations and knowledge of juice from orchard meadows (OM). Willingness to pay (WTP) was measured by using the contingent valuation method. The results show that specific product attributes of products from traditional cultural landscapes result in an additional WTP of consumers. In communication of a traditional cultural landscape product like OM juice, it is important to highlight especially three product attributes to consumers: the local origin, the environmentally friendly and organic production, and the naturalness of the landscape.

Keywords

agricultural systemsagroforestrycommunicationconsumer behaviorethical consumptionfoodtraditional cultural landscape

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Type
Research Paper
Information
Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems , Volume 40 , 2025 , e17
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This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press

Introduction

Traditional cultural landscapes have great importance in providing environmental, economic, social, and cultural services for human and are a sustainable way of food production (Bieling, Eser and Plieninger, Reference Bieling, Eser and Plieninger2020; Moreno et al., Reference Moreno, Aviron, Berg, Crous-Duran, Franca, de Jalón, Hartel, Mirck, Pantera, Palma, Paulo, Re, Sanna, Thenail, Varga, Viaud and Burgess2018; Plieninger et al., Reference Plieninger, Torralba, Hartel and Fagerholm2019; Tieskens et al., Reference Tieskens, Schulp, Levers, Lieskovský, Kuemmerle, Plieninger and Verburg2017). These landscapes originate from different forms of agricultural activities and are characterized by a traditional knowledge of cultivation and a low level of external input. Due to low yields of varying product quality, they usually lack economic viability and competitiveness compared to more intensive agricultural systems (Fischer, Hartel and Kuemmerle, Reference Fischer, Hartel and Kuemmerle2012; García-Martín et al., Reference García-Martín, Huntsinger, Ibarrola-Rivas, Penker, D’Ambrosio, Dimopoulos, Fernández-Giménez, Kizos, Muñoz-Rojas, Saito, Zimmerer, Abson, Liu, Quintas-Soriano, Sørensen, Verburg and Plieninger2022; Tieskens et al., Reference Tieskens, Schulp, Levers, Lieskovský, Kuemmerle, Plieninger and Verburg2017).

Orchard meadows (OM) are one example of traditional cultural landscapes and represent the traditional form of tree fruit production in central Europe (Forejt and Syrbe, Reference Forejt and Syrbe2019; Herzog, Reference Herzog1998; Špulerová et al., Reference Špulerová, Piscová, Gerhátová, Bača, Kalivoda and Kanka2015). It is estimated that approximately 617,500 acre of OM in Germany and 3.7 million acres in Europe exist (NABU, 2018). Large areas of OM can be found in Southern and Central Germany, Austria, and the western Carpathians (Forejt and Syrbe, Reference Forejt and Syrbe2019). Baden-Württemberg, the south-western federal state of Germany, is particularly rich in OM trees. A total of 7.1 million trees, corresponding to approximately 89,000 hectares, has been reported (Borngräber, Krismann and Schmieder, Reference Borngräber, Krismann and Schmieder2020). The share of OM on all fruit tree plantations in Central Europe is estimated to be between 12.6% in Poland and more than 50% in Germany and Austria (Forejt and Syrbe, Reference Forejt and Syrbe2019).

As an agroforestry system, OM typically combines fruit tree growing with permanent pasture or, in rare cases, with arable land. Large-crowned fruit trees with only 20–100 trees per hectare are typical for OM. They are mostly high-trunked, strong-growing, and of different ages and sizes, as well as of different fruit varieties and species (Herzog, Reference Herzog1998; Herzog and Oetmann, Reference Herzog, Oetmann and Flora2001). As multifunctional agricultural landscapes, OM provide many different ecosystem services, such as genetic diversity, soil protection, and microclimate regulation (Forejt and Syrbe, Reference Forejt and Syrbe2019; Herzog, Reference Herzog1998; Horak et al., Reference Horak, Peltanova, Podavkova, Safarova, Bogusch, Romportl and Zasadil2013; Špulerová et al., Reference Špulerová, Piscová, Gerhátová, Bača, Kalivoda and Kanka2015; Zander, Reference Zander and Weingarten2003). The cultivation of OM is largely practiced in a way that fulfils the standards of organic farming, for example, without the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. However, many farmers and OM associations avoid the effort and costs associated with organic certification (NABU, 2018). OM fruit provides raw material for juice, cider, and dried fruit production, used by the fruit juice industry and local OM associations, farms, and cideries (Tojnko et al., Reference Tojnko, Rozman, Unuk, Pažek and Pamič2011).

Economic factors, such as low profitability and high opportunity costs, create incentives to convert OM into more intensive land uses, which require less labor and have lower production costs (Borngräber, Krismann and Schmieder, Reference Borngräber, Krismann and Schmieder2020; Forejt and Syrbe, Reference Forejt and Syrbe2019; Plieninger et al., Reference Plieninger, Levers, Mantel, Costa, Schaich and Kuemmerle2015; Špulerová et al., Reference Špulerová, Piscová, Gerhátová, Bača, Kalivoda and Kanka2015). Aging orchard farmers and a lack of generational succession, coupled with rural depopulation and declining agricultural interest, are leading to poorly maintained OM (Borngräber, Krismann and Schmieder, Reference Borngräber, Krismann and Schmieder2020; Forejt and Syrbe, Reference Forejt and Syrbe2019; Špulerová et al., Reference Špulerová, Piscová, Gerhátová, Bača, Kalivoda and Kanka2015), and the OM area is significantly declining (Borngräber, Krismann and Schmieder, Reference Borngräber, Krismann and Schmieder2020; Dorresteijn et al., Reference Dorresteijn, Loos, Hanspach and Fischer2015; Forejt and Syrbe, Reference Forejt and Syrbe2019; Plieninger et al., Reference Plieninger, Levers, Mantel, Costa, Schaich and Kuemmerle2015; Špulerová et al., Reference Špulerová, Piscová, Gerhátová, Bača, Kalivoda and Kanka2015; Tojnko et al., Reference Tojnko, Rozman, Unuk, Pažek and Pamič2011). In Baden-Württemberg, for example, there was a decline of 17% of OM trees in only 10 years, between 2008 and 2018 (Borngräber, Krismann and Schmieder, Reference Borngräber, Krismann and Schmieder2020).

In line with other traditional agricultural systems, OM offer numerous external benefits. These include enhanced biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and the preservation of cultural landscapes and local heritage. These benefits demonstrably exceed those provided by intensive land management practices. Therefore, long-term conservation of OM systems requires financial incentives for farmers. These incentives can take the form of public subsidies which directly compensate farmers for the ecosystem services they provide. Alternatively, market-based mechanisms, such as premiums on OM-derived products, can create a sustainable economic model (Forejt and Syrbe, Reference Forejt and Syrbe2019; Herzog, Reference Herzog1998; Plieninger et al., Reference Plieninger, Bieling, Ohnesorge, Schaich, Schleyer and Wolff2013; Schaich, Bieling and Plieninger, Reference Schaich, Bieling and Plieninger2010; Tojnko et al., Reference Tojnko, Rozman, Unuk, Pažek and Pamič2011; Wolpert, Quintas-Soriano and Plieninger, Reference Wolpert, Quintas-Soriano and Plieninger2020).

A precondition for remuneration via markets is consumer interest in buying and their willingness to pay (WTP) higher prices for products from these landscapes. Consumers need to appreciate the specific product attributes, which refer to process characteristics such as traditional agricultural production, less or no use of pesticides, or minimal processing of, for example, fruit juice (Escribano, Gaspar and Mesias, Reference Escribano, Gaspar and Mesias2020; Philipp and Zander, Reference Philipp and Zander2023). In marketing, these process characteristics are referred to as added value. Added values are the intangible qualities of a product or service that provide extra benefits to consumers. The benefits can arise from attributes like origin from specific production systems, which generate positive external impacts, such as environmental protection or support of local communities. When consumers deliberately base their purchasing decisions on these added values, it is termed ethical consumer behavior (Carrington, Neville and Whitwell, Reference Carrington, Neville and Whitwell2014; Zander, Stolz and Hamm, Reference Zander, Stolz and Hamm2013). An example where positive external effects of production are at least partly internalized and remunerated to farmers is organic food. Consumers are willing to pay higher prices for the added values, such as environmental protection (Katt and Meixner, Reference Katt and Meixner2020; Lee and Hwang, Reference Lee and Hwang2016; Li and Kallas, Reference Li and Kallas2021).

According to the qualitative research by Philipp and Zander (Reference Philipp and Zander2023), many consumers have a positive connotation of OM, even though they do not exactly know which properties are typical for the OM system and its products. Naturalness, intense taste, local origin, and biodiversity preservation are ethical product attributes appreciated by German consumers (Philipp and Zander, Reference Philipp and Zander2023).

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, based on several literature searches using various combinations of relevant terms, no quantitative research specifically on consumers’ associations, knowledge, and their WTP for products from OM exists. Against this background, and in order to increase consumer demand for products from traditional cultural landscapes, this study aims to identify the aspects particularly important in the communication of traditional cultural landscapes and the products to consumers by analyzing consumers’ associations, knowledge, and WTP. This helps to identify appropriate communication measures for products from traditional cultural landscapes. The following main research questions are addressed:

  • • What do consumers associate with and know about OM?

  • • What is consumers’ WTP for OM juice?

  • • How should OM juice be communicated to consumers?

This article is structured in five sections. Following the introduction, the ‘Theoretical background’ section explores previous findings on ethical consumer behavior. This serves as a basis for the analytical framework of this study. The ‘Methods’ section describes the quantitative study design with the contingent valuation method (CVM) for analyzing consumers’ WTP, the questionnaire, and the sample. Results on consumers’ associations with and knowledge about OM, as well as WTP for OM juice, are described in the ‘Results’ section. The article closes with a discussion and conclusions on the communication of traditional landscape products in the ‘Discussion and conclusion’ section.

Theoretical background

Ethical consumerism refers to a consumption behavior that takes ethical or moral considerations into account when making buying decisions. Previous studies indicate that there are consumer segments that are guided by various ethical motives (e.g., environmental and social) when purchasing products and that ethical consumerism is also gaining importance in food purchases (Carrington, Neville and Whitwell, Reference Carrington, Neville and Whitwell2014; Miele and Evans, Reference Miele and Evans2010; Newholm and Shaw, Reference Newholm and Shaw2007; Untarini, Reference Untarini2020; Vermeir and Verbeke, Reference Vermeir and Verbeke2006).

Several theoretical concepts exist to explain and predict (ethical) consumers’ buying behavior and can provide insights into drivers of purchasing products from traditional cultural landscapes such as OM. They all have in common that individual internal processes and constructs, such as preferences, knowledge, attitudes, perceptions, involvement, learning, intentions, valuations, motivations, values, and emotions, may explain consumer behavior (Kroeber-Riel and Gröppel-Klein, Reference Kroeber-Riel, Gröppel-Klein, Kroeber-Riel and Gröppel-Klein2019; Solomon et al., Reference Solomon, Askegaard, Hoog and Bamossy2019). Attitudes are relatively enduring, overarching judgements of people, objects, or facts (Solomon et al., Reference Solomon, Askegaard, Hoog and Bamossy2019). They are of crucial relevance for buying behavior. In this line, environmental attitudes are important drivers of WTP for ethical and sustainable products (Ammann et al., Reference Ammann, Arbenz, Mack, Nemecek and El2023; Barbu et al., Reference Barbu, Catană, Deselnicu, Cioca and Ioanid2022; Haws, Winterich and Naylor, Reference Haws, Winterich and Naylor2013; Hueppe and Zander, Reference Hueppe and Zander2023).

Preferences for local food are increasing and influence the consumption behavior of locally produced food (Hempel and Hamm, Reference Hempel and Hamm2015; Zander and Feucht, Reference Zander and Feucht2018). There are different reasons why consumers are buying local. For example, consumers choose local food because it is seen as more environmentally friendly due to the shorter transportation distances. Furthermore, some consumers want to support the local economy and farmers by purchasing local food (Hasanzade, Elsihewy and Toporowski, Reference Hasanzade, Elsihewy and Toporowski2022) and appreciate that the product represents a local culture (Fernández-Ferrín et al., Reference Fernández-Ferrín, Calvo-Turrientes, Bande, Artaraz-Miñón and Galán-Ladero2018). Consumers may also prefer local food because they perceive it to be fresher, safer, and healthier than other products (Hempel and Hamm, Reference Hempel and Hamm2016). With regard to juice from OM, local origin was found to be an important purchasing argument for OM juice (Philipp and Zander, Reference Philipp and Zander2023).

Knowledge is one of the preconditions for translating attitudes into behavior. Kollmuss and Agyeman (Reference Kollmuss and Agyeman2002) put knowledge at the top of the list of variables impacting ethical behavior. Without knowing about production processes and product properties and the specific relevance for the individual purchase decision, consumers will not be able to change their buying behavior in favor of ethical products and according to their individual ethical preferences (Carrington, Neville and Whitwell, Reference Carrington, Neville and Whitwell2014). Philipp and Zander (Reference Philipp and Zander2023) have shown that consumers’ knowledge about OM led to greater interest in buying OM juice and that the term OM was positively connotated. The positive effect of the landscape’s name on consumers’ interest in these traditional cultural landscapes’ products was also found for the Spanish ‘Dehesas’, which are another example of traditional cultural landscapes (Escribano, Gaspar and Mesias, Reference Escribano, Gaspar and Mesias2020; Villanueva et al., Reference Villanueva, Salazar-Ordoñez, Granado-Díaz and Rodríguez-Entrena2021).

Higher product involvement is associated with a higher perceived relevance of the product with regard to satisfying individual needs, interests, or values (Solomon et al., Reference Solomon, Askegaard, Hoog and Bamossy2019). Consumers with higher involvement are supposed to process more information on the product and to become more knowledgeable, so higher involvement often increases knowledge (Zander and Hamm, Reference Zander and Hamm2010). In addition, stronger social and cultural ties of consumers with traditional cultural landscapes imply greater knowledge of and higher involvement with products and positively influenced respondents’ WTP (Granado-Díaz, Villanueva and Gómez-Limón, Reference Granado-Díaz, Villanueva and Gómez-Limón2022; Villanueva et al., Reference Villanueva, Salazar-Ordoñez, Granado-Díaz and Rodríguez-Entrena2021).

According to Román, Sánchez-Siles and Siegrist (Reference Román, Sánchez-Siles and Siegrist2017), naturalness is a crucial component in food choice for many consumers. Different categories of naturalness exist. Naturalness refers to the ways of agricultural production, to the method of processing, and to the final product that consumers purchase (Román, Sánchez-Siles and Siegrist, Reference Román, Sánchez-Siles and Siegrist2017). Perceived food naturalness goes along with a positive reputation and higher WTP (Berry, Burton and Howlett, Reference Berry, Burton and Howlett2017). The naturalness of the extensive production system, such as OM, should reflect the naturalness of the product, for example, cloudy direct apple juice that is minimally processed (Borghoff and Strassner, Reference Borghoff and Strassner2023; Philipp and Zander, Reference Philipp and Zander2023).

The conceptual model in this study illustrates which independent variables are expected to influence consumer choices and WTP of OM juice (Fig. 1).

Figure 1. Overview of the analytical framework.

Methods

This study consisted of a quantitative online survey that contained two parts: A contingent valuation experiment (CVM) eliciting German respondents’ WTP for orchard meadow (OM) juice was followed by a questionnaire on psychographic and sociodemographic variables to identify associations, knowledge, and attitudes.

Contingent valuation method and analysis of willingness to pay

Preferences are frequently analyzed by examining consumers’ WTP either by relying on sales data or by asking consumers directly or indirectly. The CVM is a method for measuring consumer preferences and their WTP (Kallas and Gil, Reference Kallas and Gil2011). It is often employed not only to estimate the values of nonmarket goods (McFadden, Reference McFadden, McFadden and Train2017) but also of private goods, for example, food (Ali, Ang and Van Der Fels-Klerx, Reference Ali, Ang and Van Der Fels-Klerx2021; Brugarolas Mollá-Bauzá et al., Reference Brugarolas Mollá-Bauzá, Martínez-Carrasco, Martínez-Poveda and Rico Pérez2005; Zander and Feucht, Reference Zander and Feucht2018). The CVM is a direct method in which consumers are directly asked about their individual WTP for specific product attributes. In doing this, consumers focus more strongly on the product value and the budget restrictions than when using choice experiments (Kallas and Gil, Reference Kallas and Gil2011). Compared with choice experiments, results from CVM were often presumed to be prone to hypothetical bias. This might result in overestimation of WTP due to the fact that the design is less close to real market situations (List and Gallet, Reference List and Gallet2001). Comparisons of the results of CVM and choice experiments indicated that this hypothetical bias is not any higher than when using indirect instruments such as choice experiments (Grunert et al., Reference Grunert, Juhl, Esbjerg, Jensen, Bech-Larsen, Brunsø and Madsen2009; List and Gallet, Reference List and Gallet2001; Schmidt and Bijmolt, Reference Schmidt and Bijmolt2020).

Reliability and validity of CVM results highly depend on the design of the study and on how individuals are asked about their WTP (Boccaletti and Nardella, Reference Boccaletti and Nardella2000). To create a realistic purchase situation, WTP questions are typically embedded in a scenario that explains the nature of the surveyed good and the situation of purchasing (McFadden, Reference McFadden, McFadden and Train2017). The payment card format, as one type of elicitation technique, is widely used in practice. Here, respondents are requested to choose their maximum WTP value from a range of offered WTP values (Kallas and Gil, Reference Kallas and Gil2011; Zander and Feucht, Reference Zander and Feucht2018).

The contingent valuation scenario of this study is illustrated in Table 1 and involves four questions. First, the respondents were introduced to the CVM experiment by asking for typical characteristics of the apple juice that participants usually buy, such as brand, cloudiness, type, packaging, bottle size, and organic certification. Second, in the following open question, respondents had to give the price they commonly pay for this juice. Third, respondents were asked for a reference price for apple juice with four defined product attributes ‘How much would you pay for 1 liter of apple juice with the following characteristics (glass bottle, 100% fruit content, direct juice, and naturally cloudy)?’ Fourth, by means of the question ‘How much would you be willing to pay on top of this price if this juice also offered the following characteristics?’ respondents were asked for their additional WTP for selected product attributes. These attributes were chosen based on findings by Philipp and Zander (Reference Philipp and Zander2023) and on a previous inventory of OM juice in different grocery stores. The response options ranged from 0.00 to 2.00 €/L in 0.05 €/L steps. Participants entered their WTP separately for each product attribute. Comparing consumers’ WTP for the different added values allows us to come up with recommendations on how to most effectively communicate the added value of OM juice.

Table 1. Payment scenario of the CVM exercise

The analyses of the WTP were done with relative numbers (%). This facilitated the consideration of individual reference prices and the explanation of differences in WTP between the tested product attributes.

The relative WTP (%) for OM juice with different additional product attributes was calculated based on the reference price for the defined juice according to Equation (1):

(1) $$ {\displaystyle \begin{array}{l}\left(\frac{\mathrm{WTP}\;\mathrm{for}\;\mathrm{a}\;\mathrm{defined}\ \mathrm{apple}\ \mathrm{juice}\left(\frac{\text{\EUR}}{\mathrm{L}}\right)+\mathrm{additional}\;\mathrm{WTP}\;\mathrm{for}\;\mathrm{a}\;\mathrm{product}\ \mathrm{attribute}\left(\frac{\text{\EUR}}{\mathrm{L}}\right)}{\mathrm{WTP}\;\mathrm{for}\ \mathrm{defined}\ \mathrm{apple}\ \mathrm{juice}\left(\frac{\text{\EUR}}{\mathrm{L}}\right)}\right)\hskip1em \times 100.\end{array}} $$

When eliciting WTP data, usually there is a peak of frequencies of WTP values at ‘0’ (no WTP). In this study, two binary logistic regression models were calculated to identify the drivers of a positive WTP, independent of the extent of WTP (0/1) (i) for apple juice from OM fruit and (ii) for organically produced juice. The attribute ‘from OM fruit’ was chosen because it is most prominent in the communication of OM juice. ‘Organically produced’ is rather well known in Germany, and consistently ensuring organic certification for OM juice products might be a way for producers to increase demand.

Questionnaire

The questionnaire consisted of several parts in which associations, knowledge, involvement, all in relation to OM, attitudes, preferences, and sociodemographics were queried. Examining respondents’ associations with the term OM aimed at getting insights into respondents’ perceptions and knowledge of OM, and can give indications as to which information is important in the communication of OM products. The associations were coded using the MAXQDA 11 software. Concept-driven categories based on characteristics of OM described in the literature (e.g., Philipp and Zander, Reference Philipp and Zander2023) were completed by data-driven categories (Kuckartz and Rädiker, Reference Kuckartz and Rädiker2019).

In order to gain a deeper insight into consumers’ knowledge of OM, two questions were integrated. First, respondents were asked whether they had heard the term before. The variable ‘existing knowledge of OM term’ was set to ‘1’ if the respondents agreed. Second, photographs were used to measure objective knowledge of OM (Fig. 2). Participants were asked to select the photographs representing OM from a total of four pictures: two for OM and two for intensive fruit growing. The binary variable ‘existing objective knowledge of OM landscape’ was set at ‘1’ when all pictures were correctly assigned. Otherwise, it was set to ‘0’.

Figure 2. Elicitation of objective knowledge of the participants regarding orchard meadows in comparison with intensive fruit growing by typical pictures of the systems. Photo Source: Hospiz- und Palliativverband Baden-Württemberg, Katrin Zander, Pixabay (Dieter Ludwig Scharnagl), Pixabay.

In a further step, several questions were integrated in order to get an understanding of consumers’ involvement with OM meadows and the products. First, participants were asked whether they had a relation to OM cultivation, resulting in the variable ‘existing relation to OM’ (0/1). The second question referred to their ‘previous consumption of OM juice’ (0/1). Third, participants’ perception of the naturalness of OM apple juice was asked by their agreement with the statement ‘OM juice is more natural than other juice’ in a 7-point scale (‘1—fully disagree’ and ‘7—fully agree’).

Environmental attitudes were measured with eight items also via a 7-point Likert scale (see Table A1 in the Appendix). The Cronbach alpha was 0.837. A scale on ‘attitude toward the environment’ was built by calculating the mean of the eight items. For identifying participants’ preferences for local food, six statements according to Hempel and Hamm (Reference Hempel and Hamm2015) were measured, also via a 7-point Likert scale. They showed a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.820. Finally, sociodemographic data on gender, age, income, and place of residence (federal state) were elicited.

Sample description

The survey was performed online in November 2022 in Germany. A private online access panel was used for purposive quota sampling. Participants were selected to represent the German population in terms of age and place of residence. Quotas were set for gender relations (at least one-third men), considering that even today, more women than men are responsible for shopping (Max Rubner-Institut, 2008). Respondents had to drink apple juice at least occasionally.

The survey was pretested with 45 participants to improve clarity and understanding of the questionnaire before conducting the main survey with 1,524 respondents. After data cleaning and the exclusion of several cases due to overly rapid completion of the total survey, straightlining (no answer variance in the questionnaire), and uncompleted data, the final sample consisted of 963 consumers (Table 2). In the final data set, young people from 18 to 24 years are under-represented compared to the general German population. The highest income category (>5.000 €/month net household income) was also under-represented (Ziebach et al., Reference Ziebach, Kott, Geisler and Behrends2022).

Table 2. Sociodemographic characteristics of the participants in the final sample (N = 963)

1 Figures for gender and age are from 2022; figures for income are from 2018.

Results

Orchard meadows and their products: consumers’ associations, knowledge, and involvement

The starting point was to get to know respondents’ free associations with OM. This allows to gain an initial insight into how consumers perceive OM. Most frequent association was a tree or fruit trees (29%). The second most frequent association was ‘naturalness’ stated by 26% of the respondents. Naturalness was associated with a more natural form of fruit cultivation. Several participants perceived OM as a system that is without human influence. This was evident by associations like that there is no general or agricultural use (‘trees are not purposely planted’) and wilderness (‘fruit trees growing wild’). This notion goes hand in hand with the assumption that there is open access to the fruit for all people (‘fruit is free to use’) and people are allowed to pick fruit. Only 2% of the respondents associated any food product, such as juice with the term OM.

Participants’ knowledge of the term OM was elicited by asking if they had heard the term before. Seventy-six percent of the respondents have heard the OM before. By presenting several photographs, some with OM and some with intensive fruit plantations, objective knowledge of OM landscape was assessed. Only 27% were able to correctly assign the different photographs to OM landscape or intensive fruit orcharding (see Fig. 2).

In order to get an understanding of consumers’ involvement with OM and the products, their personal relationship, OM juice consumption, and perceived naturalness of the juice were elicited. Eighteen percent of the respondents stated that they had a personal relation to OM, for example, by cultivating their own plots or helping family or friends with their OM plots. Forty percent of the respondents stated that they previously had consumed OM juice, whereas 41% were not sure about it. Regarding OM juice, 58% of the respondents perceived it as more natural than other juices.

Willingness to pay for OM juice

In order to better understand which ethical product attributes may induce an additional WTP and should be prioritized in communication, several product attributes of OM fruit juice were selected and tested (Table 3). The WTP is given in relation to the reference price stated by each participant for a defined apple juice (glass bottle, 100% fruit content, direct juice, naturally cloudy; mean = 1.90 €/l; 100%) (for the calculation, see the ‘Contingent valuation method and analysis of willingness to pay’ section.

Table 3. Average relative willingness to pay (WTP) for different product attributes compared to reference price (100%) of all respondents (N = 963) and respondents with WTP > 100%

Note: Superscript lowercase letters (‘a’, ‘b’, and ‘c’) indicate homogeneous groups among the mean relative WTP values for different product attributes within each column. Product attributes sharing the same letter within a column do not differ statistically significantly from each other (p < 0.05). Conversely, product attributes with different letters in the same column are statistically significantly different (p < 0.05).

1 ANOVA between the ∅ WTP (%) for the different product attributes of all respondents: (F(5,5772) = 7.095, p < 0.000).

2 ANOVA between the ∅ WTP (%) for the different product attributes of respondents with WTP > 100%: (F(5,412) = p = 0.841).

For all respondents, WTP for ‘organically produced’ and ‘minimal use of pesticides’ was significantly higher than for juice that was explicitly declared ‘with OM fruit’. Seventy percent of the respondents were willing to pay a higher price for these two attributes. The lowest share of respondents (48%) was willing to pay more for juice from OM fruit. However, the average amount of additional WTP (15%–17%) for the respondents willing to pay more did not vary significantly between the different product attributes.

In order to further explain relative WTP OM juice, two binary logistic regression models were calculated (Table 4) using the product attributes with the highest (organically produced) and lowest shares (from OM juice) of respondents showing additional WTP (see Table 3). The dependent variable of both binary logistic regressions was the existence of a relative WTP for juice labeled as ‘from OM’ or ‘organically produced’. Independent variables were included in line with the theoretical considerations and the model presented above (see Fig. 1). The binomial logistic regression models were statistically significant, χ 2(13) = 188.28, p < .001 for organically produced juice and χ 2(13) = 142.29, p < .001 for juice with OM fruit, resulting in acceptable amount of explained variance (Backhaus et al., Reference Backhaus, Erichson, Gensler, Weiber and Weiber2021), as shown by Nagelkerke’s R 2 = .236 and R 2 = .177.

Table 4. Influencing variables on the existence of additional willingness to pay for juice that is organically produced or from orchard meadow fruit

Note: Dependent variable: additional WTP for juice (WTP > 100%) compared to reference price for defined apple juice = 100%. Reference category: no additional WTP (WTP = 100%) compared to reference price for defined apple juice = 100%. B: parameter estimates; Exp(B): odds.

Several driving factors for the WTP for organic juice and for juice from OM fruit could be identified. A positive attitude toward the environment had a significant positive effect on the WTP for organic juice, whereas it was less significant for juice from OM fruit. High preference for local food showed a positive effect on the additional WTP for both product attributes. Knowledge of the OM term and landscape did not influence the WTP for juice with OM fruit. The high subjective knowledge of the term and the positive and higher objective knowledge of the system was also not translated into preferences and WTP for OM products. The two variables indicating a higher involvement with juice from OM (relation to OM and previous consumption of OM juice) had a significant positive effect on the WTP for juice from OM fruit. Perceived naturalness of OM juice had a significant positive effect on the WTP for juice from OM fruit. Younger age had a significant positive influence on WTP for both organic juice and OM fruit juice.

Discussion and conclusion

This study aimed to fill the gap in research on consumers’ associations, knowledge, and WTP for products from the traditional cultural landscape of OM. The results of this study allow delineating some implications on how the preservation of traditional cultural landscapes can be enhanced by increased consumption of the products and better communication, using OM juice as an example.

This study’s findings indicate two important factors that need to be considered when developing communication measures for products from the traditional cultural landscapes. First, consumers’ relationship with the traditional cultural landscapes of OM in Germany is low, and an existing relationship results in higher WTP. A missing relationship between consumers, traditional cultural landscapes, and the landscape products was also observed in other studies (Cosmina et al., Reference Cosmina, Gallenti, Marangon and Troiano2016; Wezel, Chazoule and Vallod, Reference Wezel, Chazoule and Vallod2013) and might be due to the increasing alienation of consumers with agriculture and food production (Vicente-Vicente, Quintas-Soriano and López-Rodríguez, Reference Vicente-Vicente, Quintas-Soriano and López-Rodríguez2022). Other studies have shown that when consumers have a strong relation to agricultural production, local identity, and commitment to the region, the demand for products from traditional cultural landscape is likely to be greater (Escribano, Gaspar and Mesias, Reference Escribano, Gaspar and Mesias2020; Hasanzade, Elsihewy and Toporowski, Reference Hasanzade, Elsihewy and Toporowski2022) and can result in higher WTP (Escribano, Gaspar and Mesias, Reference Escribano, Gaspar and Mesias2020; Fernández-Ferrín et al., Reference Fernández-Ferrín, Calvo-Turrientes, Bande, Artaraz-Miñón and Galán-Ladero2018; Granado-Díaz, Villanueva and Gómez-Limón, Reference Granado-Díaz, Villanueva and Gómez-Limón2022; Hasanzade, Elsihewy and Toporowski, Reference Hasanzade, Elsihewy and Toporowski2022; Villanueva et al., Reference Villanueva, Salazar-Ordoñez, Granado-Díaz and Rodríguez-Entrena2021).

Second, a lack of consumers’ relation to traditional cultural landscapes can also be a reason for low knowledge about traditional cultural landscapes. However, existing knowledge of the system characteristics has little influence on WTP for products from the traditional cultural landscapes. This finding is particularly surprising. Other studies concerning sustainable products have shown that knowledge is a crucial factor in consumers’ choice (Peschel et al., Reference Peschel, Grebitus, Steiner and Veeman2016; Yiridoe, Bonti-Ankomah and Martin, Reference Yiridoe, Bonti-Ankomah and Martin2005). One reason why knowledge of the landscape term OM and typical visual characteristics has no influence on WTP for the products might be that consumers lack specific knowledge of the positive product attributes and personal benefits of purchasing these products (Cosmina et al., Reference Cosmina, Gallenti, Marangon and Troiano2016; Wezel, Chazoule and Vallod, Reference Wezel, Chazoule and Vallod2013). To conclude, these two findings indicate that communication efforts aimed at strengthening consumers’ relationships with traditional cultural landscapes and their products, and/or enhancing knowledge of the positive product attributes and personal advantages of buying these products, can result in higher demand and WTP.

Three product attributes are particularly promising in the communication of OM juice as an example of a product from traditional cultural landscapes: (1) the local origin, (2) the environmentally friendly and organic production, and (3) the naturalness of the landscape. It is important that marketers of OM juice emphasize ‘local origin’. As other studies show, this product attribute often results in high WTP because of high preferences among consumers for local food (Hempel and Hamm, Reference Hempel and Hamm2015; Hempel and Hamm, Reference Hempel and Hamm2016; Schäufele and Janssen, Reference Schäufele and Janssen2021; Smith et al., Reference Smith, Lal, Oluoch, Vedwan and Smith2021). Local production can be communicated directly on the product, for example, by referencing a specific geographical area for production and processing (e.g., a district) or by indicating the local producer (e.g., the cidery, the farmer, and a non-profit OM association).

It is useful to highlight the environmentally friendly production of OM juice. In several studies, a pro-environmental attitude was mentioned as an important reason to buy ethical products (Arya, Chaturvedi and Singh, Reference Arya, Chaturvedi and Singh2024; Padel and Foster, Reference Padel and Foster2005; Puteri, Buttlar and Jahnke, Reference Puteri, Buttlar and Jahnke2022). A strategy to make this product attribute of OM products apparent to consumers is organic certification. Consumers’ higher WTP for organic certification compared to other ethical product attributes was also found in previous studies (De-Magistris and Gracia, Reference De-Magistris and Gracia2016; Katt and Meixner, Reference Katt and Meixner2020; Tempesta and Vecchiato, Reference Tempesta and Vecchiato2019). A reason for this higher WTP might be better knowledge of and trust in organic agriculture due to the well-introduced concept of organic farming in EU food markets (Zander, Padel, and Zanoli, Reference Zander, Padel and Zanoli2015). Organic products are also considered to be healthier and safer than conventional foods, which can also cause higher WTP (Katt and Meixner, Reference Katt and Meixner2020).

The higher naturalness of the cultivation system should be consistently retained and communicated through the whole value chain from fruit production to the product itself (e.g., minimal processing into direct juice or traditional production methods) and via retailers to the consumers. Perceived naturalness has a significant positive effect on the WTP for juice from OM fruit. Naturalness of agricultural production, processing, and of the product itself is an important attribute for consumers of products from traditional cultural landscapes (Escribano, Gaspar and Mesias, Reference Escribano, Gaspar and Mesias2020; Philipp and Zander, Reference Philipp and Zander2023) and other products with ethical product attributes (Hemmerling, Canavari and Spiller, Reference Hemmerling, Canavari and Spiller2016; Hueppe and Zander, Reference Hueppe and Zander2023; Onken, Bernard and Pesek, Reference Onken, Bernard and Pesek2011). To conclude, the combination of these three main characteristics in the communication of products from traditional cultural landscapes helps to increase the relationship with, and knowledge of, products from traditional cultural landscapes and thus finally demand.

The research question and design asked for only German participants who consumed apple juice at least occasionally to be included in the study. Hence, results can only be generalized for apple juice consumers in Germany. This means that the findings may differ significantly if this study is repeated in other countries and with other traditional cultural landscapes. Nevertheless, other traditional cultural landscapes have similar characteristics to OM (e.g., extensive cultivation and traditional production methods) (García-Martín et al., Reference García-Martín, Torralba, Quintas-Soriano, Kahl and Plieninger2021). An overarching comparison of studies on products from different traditional cultural landscapes in Europe would provide insight into whether the importance of different product attributes differs. It would also allow researchers to take a step further and investigate how marketing tools can help to effectively link the product with consumers’ needs and preferences.

Declaration of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process

During the preparation of this work, the authors used DeepL to improve the readability and language of the manuscript. After using this tool, the authors reviewed and edited the content as needed and take full responsibility for the final version of this article.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge Ronja Hüppe and Hannes Bürckmann for their valuable suggestions and feedback.

Author contribution

Conceptualization: S.M.P., K.Z.; Data curation: S.M.P.; Formal analysis: S.M.P.; Funding acquisition: S.M.P.; Investigation: S.M.P.; Methodology: S.M.P., K.Z.; Supervision: K.Z.; Validation: S.M.P., K.Z.; Visualization: S.M.P.; Writing—original draft: S.M.P.; Writing—review and editing: S.M.P., K.Z. Both authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

Financial support

The authors are grateful for the funding of the project ‘Streuobst 2030—nachhaltige Sicherung eines wertvollen Ökosystems in Baden-Württemberg’ by the Stiftung Naturschutzfond Baden- Württemberg. The foundation covered the cost of recruitment of the participants by the market research institute.

Competing interests

The authors declare no potential competing interests.

Appendix

Table A1. Item statistics of attitude toward the environment and preference for local food queried using a 7-point Likert scale

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Figure 0

Figure 1. Overview of the analytical framework.

Figure 1

Table 1. Payment scenario of the CVM exercise

Figure 2

Figure 2. Elicitation of objective knowledge of the participants regarding orchard meadows in comparison with intensive fruit growing by typical pictures of the systems. Photo Source: Hospiz- und Palliativverband Baden-Württemberg, Katrin Zander, Pixabay (Dieter Ludwig Scharnagl), Pixabay.

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Table 2. Sociodemographic characteristics of the participants in the final sample (N = 963)

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Table 3. Average relative willingness to pay (WTP) for different product attributes compared to reference price (100%) of all respondents (N = 963) and respondents with WTP > 100%

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Table 4. Influencing variables on the existence of additional willingness to pay for juice that is organically produced or from orchard meadow fruit

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Table A1. Item statistics of attitude toward the environment and preference for local food queried using a 7-point Likert scale