Sustainable food consumption has attracted widespread attention over the last decades by scholars, policy makers and consumers. In line with this, farmers’ markets (FMs) have the potential to encourage sustainable agricultural production and consumption. By reducing the number of actors and distances along the food chain, these alternative food systems foster the reconnection between farmers and consumers and contribute to different social, economic and environmentally sustainable goals. This paper provides insights into how consumers’ sustainability concerns are related to their motivation for shopping at FMs. By means of a choice experiment, we analyze the determinants of consumers’ preferences for buying apples at FMs. We are particularly interested in understanding how attitudes towards the three sustainability dimensions are related to consumer preferences in this context. We find that consumer attitudes towards direct contact with producers, contributing to farmers’ income, and environmental benefits, can be directly related to product characteristics that are specific to FMs.

Little is known about whether brackish coastal ecosystems attract specific angler types that are characterized by site-specific preferences and behaviors while targeting freshwater fishes living in a low-salinity environment. Using the lagoon (“Bodden”) fisheries in northeastern Germany, we compared the human dimensions among anglers fishing in Bodden sites, anglers fishing primarily in freshwater sites, and other, less-setting-specialized anglers that use both marine and freshwater fisheries. Data were generated from a 1-year telephone–mail–diary study involving over 1,000 study participants. The general characteristics, demographics, specialization level, motives, catch orientation, and catch-and-release behaviors of the three angler groups were rather similar. However, when targeting specific freshwater fish (i.e., Eurasian Perch Perca fluviatilis, Northern Pike Esox lucius, and Zander [also known as Pikeperch] Sander lucioperca), the motives of anglers choosing the Bodden versus freshwater sites differed. Specifically, Bodden anglers targeting freshwater species in brackish waters were more catch oriented, trophy fish oriented, and challenge seeking compared to freshwater anglers. Bodden anglers were also more likely to fish with friends rather than alone compared to the other angler groups, and they were more likely to use motorboats and to take guides compared to freshwater anglers. Correspondingly, a revealed preference choice model showed that anglers expecting high catch outcomes and social experiences with friends and boat fishing were more likely to select the Bodden waters relative to freshwater sites. Additionally, anglers with a stronger orientation toward the noncatch, experience-based aspects of fishing were more likely to fish in the Bodden and coastal sites compared to freshwater, suggesting that coastal sites satisfy both catch- and non-catch-related expectations. We suggest that given their specific preferences and characteristics, Bodden anglers will be particularly sensitive to constraints imposed on using motorboats and to declines in catch rates and trophy sizes in the catch, specifically for Northern Pike.

Sustainable food consumption has attracted a widespread attention during last decades by scholars, policy makers and consumers. In line with this, farmers’ markets (FMs) have the potential to encourage sustainable agricultural production and consumption. By reducing the number of actors and distances along the food chain, these alternative food systems foster the reconnection between farmers and consumers and contribute to different social, economic and environmental sustainable goals. This paper provides insights on the role of consumers' sustainability concerns related to their motivation for shopping at FMs. By means of a choice experiment, we analyze the determinants of consumers’ WTP for buying apples at FMs. We are particularly interested in understanding how attitudes towards the three sustainability dimensions are related to consumer preferences in this context. We find that consumer attitudes towards direct contact with producers, contributing to farmers’ income, and environmental benefits can be directly related to product characteristics that are specific to FMs.

Cities increasingly face the necessity to choose among possible policy measures to counter urban heat and then to justify them. The contingent valuation method (CVM) is a frequently applied approach to estimate the monetary value of environmental policy measures. The authors scrutinized the appropriateness of the CVM to estimate the value of trees and drinking fountains as measures against urban heat in Vienna, Austria. First, to elicit meaningful per-unit estimates, the respondents’ willingness to pay depending on the scenario’s number of units was tested. It was found that the number of trees does not influence the average willingness to pay. Second, in the case of many possible policy measures, negative valuations are possible. The authors estimated a negative mean willingness to pay for fountains when allowing for negative values. These two findings render the CVM results questionable for policy recommendations. The authors believe that these limitations are typical of the CVM and refer to alternative methods to monetarily value measures against urban heat.