Du conventionnel au bio : analyse du comportement du consommateur à l'égard des exploitations converties.

Abstract

The organic food market has been growing in Wallonia since several years now : on one hand organic food consumption is exploding, and on the other hand, the organic food supply is developing very fast. As part of this growing supply, more and more conventional farms decide to switch to organic farming. The reasons they mention for such a choice are numerous and are often ecological, ethical or even financial. In such a context, how are Walloon consumers behaving with regard to these conventional farms converted to organic farming ? Do they act differently than with the other ones ? While scientific literature regarding consumer’s behavior towards organic food is plentiful, there is not much scientific researches that have been interested in organic farm conversion, from the consumer’s perspective. Based on this statement, an exploratory research is defined in order to gain knowledge and draw new hypotheses about this research question. First, we proceeded to a literature review in order to find potential levers influencing consumers’ behavior. Then, by means of in-depth interviews with organic food consumers and non consumers, we investigated different aspects of consumer’s behavior such as perception, motivations and barriers, and also tested the levers found during the literature review. Results show that knowledge about converted farms is low and interviewees do not act differently with respect to other organic farms. Still, interviewees’ perception is positive in overall but is also influenced by the mistrust they may have against organic farming in general. We also found a perceived contradiction for partially certified farms. The conclusions drawn by this research have academic implications, as they contribute to the progress of the research in the fields of consumer’s behavior towards organic food. It also has managerial implications for all farms considering a move to organic farming.