The age of the conscientous shopper

From the availability of fresh produce, and the rising costs of living, to health and nutrition, and a desire to buy ethical and sustainable products – there’s a lot for consumers to think about when doing the weekly grocery shop.

Recent Monash University research found that more than half of Aussie shoppers surveyed say sustainability is an important factor when making a retail purchase and there’s similar trends in the United States and the UK. Meanwhile animal welfare is also a growing concern for shoppers in Australia and overseas.

Meat & Livestock Australia’s 2023 consumer sentiment survey highlighted a strong correlation between consumer trust and levels of meat consumption. The key drivers of that trust included perceptions that cattle and sheep farmers are: ethical and trustworthy with animals humanely raised; respect community concerns; and are taking actions to reduce environmental impact improving sustainability.

Technology to track, trace and verify

Data and digital technologies in our agrifood supply chains are set to play a key role in helping producers to improve practices to meet those expectations. Importantly this technology will be crucial in providing consumers with information about products, traceability throughout the supply chain and verification of claims about sustainability and high-welfare.?

One Food Agility project, Pig Welfare and Pork Provenance, is examining consumer attitudes towards digital monitoring of animal welfare and it’s delivering fascinating results.

So far Curtin University PhD student Heerah Jose has conducted in-depth interviews with Western Australians who’ve consumed pork in the past six months, to gauge their attitudes towards high-welfare pork products and what influences their purchasing decisions. She’s found that animal welfare is important to consumers but interestingly they value it much higher when buying pork to cook at home.

“Consumers have told me that when they are cooking pork at home, for themselves, friends and family that animal welfare is important and they want information about how that product was grown,” Ms Jose said.

She found when they are dining out or buying pork to consume away from home, high-welfare is seen as less important.

Consumers also indicated that digital monitoring could provide them with greater confidence in product claims about high-welfare practices. The research has also shown that the decision to purchase high-welfare pork products is made away from the supermarket, highlighting the need for in-home education and marketing. This consumer-focused research adds value to the wider project which is examining the use of Xsights IoT tags on individual pigs to monitor and respond to health and welfare in commercial piggeries – along with understanding the benefits of this digital technology to pork producers it’s important to understand if it will be accepted and valued by consumers.

Another Food Agility project, Cherries Plus Traceability, used GS1 data standards to create a ‘digital map’ of properties and products in the NSW cherry and potato industries, with a fully integrated blockchain enabled paddock to plate assurance system. It gave consumers the opportunity to access more information about the products they were buying and to provide real-time feedback to the grower.

Not just important at the check-out but government regulations

In line with consumer demands for sustainable products, international markets are stepping up their requirements, for example the European Union’s regulation on deforestation-free products and 2020 Farm to Fork Strategy. Food Agility’s working with industry through AgTrace Australia on smart traceability solutions and data standards for ESG reporting. At the Digital Agrifood Summit in 2023, Sundown Pastoral Company Managing Director David Staham spoke about the?supply chain traceability technology company FibreTrace, and the Better Earth Cotton regenerative farming program, driven by EU demands. This year’s Summit in Wagga Wagga, happening on 29-30 October 2024, promises more discussion about the role of digital technologies in supporting agricultural production and meeting consumer needs.