Can green consumer expectations match heirloom seed farmers' values ?

Session 14A: Making CSR and Sustainability Work: Organizational Strategizing and Decision-MakingThis research focuses on the alignment between values of small organic farmers cultivating heirloom products and green consumer expectations related to their perceived values of their consuming experience. Adopting a twofold approach, we try to identify the common ground which farmers can rely on to promote heirloom seeds. First we interviewed 13 farmers with an active role in the development of heirloom seeds. We then developed an online questionnaire to ask organic consumers about their attachment to the values emphasised by farmers and their motivation levels concerning heirloom products. Our results reveal that heirloom fruit and vegetables purchase can be explained in most cases by the sharing of convictions by farmers and consumers. The willingness to purchase such products seems more linked to the ethical and social dimensions of perceived values than to the intrinsic qualities of the products, such as taste or nutritional aspects. This is in line with Holbrook's typology of perceived value. We then propose some implications for producers to better meet their target