BRAND NAME AND ADDED VALUE IN HORTICULTURAL PRODUCTS: ANALYSIS OF CONSUMER PERCEPTION; Proceedings of the Fifth Joint Conference on Agriculture, Food, and the Environment, June 17-18, 1996, Padova, Italy.

The objective of this study is to evaluate consumer willingness to pay for a brand that guarantees peaches produced by integrated pest management techniques. Contingent evaluation has been applied to a survey of consumers at the retail level. The econometric model of contingent evaluation shows the significant impact of socio- economic variables and consumer food style with respect to product characteristics. In other words, the variables affecting perception are more important that actual characteristics of product in determining its added value. Indeed, consumers are more willing to penalise unbranded peaches than to pay for a branded and guaranteed product. Consequently, a brand to guarantee food safety in peaches is not sufficient to increase added value but it is important in keeping market share