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- Fernqvist, Fredrik
(författare)
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The Potential of Blockchain Technology in the Transition towards Sustainable Food Systems
- 2022
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Ingår i: Sustainability. - : MDPI AG. - 2071-1050. ; 14
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Food systems are both contributing to and affected by environmental degradation and climate change. The transition towards resilient and sustainable food systems is essential to ensure food security and minimise negative environmental impacts. Innovative technologies can accelerate this transition. Blockchain technology (BCT) is attracting attention as it can deliver transparency to complex global food supply chains and has the potential to guide current food production towards better sustainability and efficiency. This case study investigated the opportunities that BCT can offer to food supply chains. Qualitative interviews with eight main BCT providers were conducted to evaluate the current state of BCT and put it into perspective by mapping out advantages, disadvantages, incentives, motives, and expectations connected to its implementation in global food systems. A thematic analysis showed that, while BCT was considered beneficial by all interviewees, uptake is slow due to high implementation costs and the lack of incentives for companies throughout the food chain from farms to food industry and retail. Results further revealed that the advantages of BCT go beyond communication of trustworthy information and development of closer producer–consumer relationships. In fact, it can provide the opportunity to decrease food waste, enhance working conditions throughout the supply chain, and promote sustainable consumption habits. As BCT may be increasingly used in the food supply chain, the results give a basis for future research that may leverage both qualitative and quantitative methods to examine actors’ behaviours. Also, the importance of improving user experiences through functional applications and software to facilitate the adoption of the technology is stressed.
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| 4. |
- Fernqvist, Fredrik, et al.
(författare)
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Understanding food choice: A systematic review of reviews
- 2024
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Ingår i: Heliyon. - 2405-8440. ; 10
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- The topic of consumer food choice has received much attention among researchers and stakeholders within the food industry. However, in order to better facilitate food consumption towards a more sustainable direction, we need increased knowledge and understanding of factors that influence consumers' food choice. This study is a systematic review of reviews conducted between 2017 and 2021, summarising and synthesising reviews on food choice. The aim is to provide an update of the current knowledge on consumer food choice, point out what is already known, and identify knowledge gaps to enable a prioritisation for future research. The analysis highlights decisive factors in food choice, i.e. product, available information, price, context, personal and group influences and sensory perceptions. The synthesis of findings follows a socioecological model, integrating four different levels of the social and environmental systems: the physical food environment, the social and community level, interpersonal relations and, finally, individual characteristics such as psychological and behavioural factors. Results show that behavioural patterns, influenced by strong informal institutions, such as culture and norms, can be difficult to break; for example, changing into more sustainable food behaviour. The findings suggest that more interdisciplinary research and studies in real-life settings are needed to grasp the complexity of food choice. This would allow for us to better understand consumers as social beings shaped by, among other things, the physical environment, social interactions, and culture.
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| 6. |
- Fernqvist, Fredrik, et al.
(författare)
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Changing consumer intake of potato, a focus group study
- 2015
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Ingår i: British Food Journal. - 0007-070X .- 1758-4108. ; 117, s. 210-221
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose - While potato consumption in Europe and North America declines, other carbohydrate sources increase. The purpose of this paper is to explore factors affecting consumers' changing consumption behaviour as regards fresh potato.Design/methodology/approach - Six semi-structured focus group interviews were conducted. Thematic analysis was made by means of a theory-driven approach.Findings - Seven categories of factors affecting consumer choice of fresh potato were found and discussed: first, convenience and preparation-related factors; second, health; third, information and packaging; fourth, sensory appeal; fifth, monetary considerations; sixth, familiarity and habit; and seventh, sustainability and ethics. Convenience appears to be the strongest explanation to changing food behaviour.Research limitations/implications - The research contributes to present knowledge regarding food choice and consumers' carbohydrate intake. Findings of previous research is both validated and questioned. Methodological limitations are discussed, suggesting complementary quantitative approaches to the findings based on qualitative research.Practical implications - The findings add to knowledge of consumer behaviour and food choice. The findings may suggest focus areas in strategic marketing research, facilitating strategic decisions in response to falling consumption of fresh potatoes due to changing consumer attitudes and behaviour.Originality/value - By using a theory-driven approach in a thematic analysis, a broad set of interview data from six focus group interviews has been summarised and categorised. The methodology shows an effective way to treat a large amount of qualitative data and condense it to straightforward themes.
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| 8. |
- Fernqvist, Fredrik
(författare)
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Consumer experiences of tomato quality and the effects of credence
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is one of the most important horticultural crops and is produced, traded and consumed all over the world. For horticultural products, the concept of quality is an indispensably important factor in consumers’ decision-making process and choice. While production efficiency and other production and distribution related properties have been in focus within the tomato industry, less focus has been on consumer experiences and satisfaction with, for example, taste. Beside physical properties of a horticultural product, there are also other quality attributes, which are related to personal values or trust: so-called credence characteristics. For example issues regarding morals and ethics, individual considerations such as health and convenience, or preconceptions related to factors such as origin or production method. While the consumers cannot accurately evaluate credence characteristics, the expectations they generate have an effect on consumers’ perceived quality and sensory experiences. Labels of various kinds signalling credence characteristics play an important role in the modern food marketing system, as other links of trust and direct relations with the producers have vanished within the globalised food system. In this thesis, Tomato is used as a reference product with the aim of explaining the multi- faceted notion of quality of horticultural products and its role in marketing. The aim is to provide an understanding of how the concepts of quality and consumer experiences and responses are related, with focus on consumers’ experience with taste. The first paper in this thesis study consumer views on tomato taste and assesses the effect of chilling on taste. The second paper examines consumer views of some of the most common and important credence characteristics; origin and production method; and explores their effect on consumer liking. The third paper delves further into credence and the effect on consumer liking, and correlates consumer attitudes with experienced quality. The fourth paper is a literature review on recent published papers on the topic, and proposes a conceptual framework describing the effect of credence on consumer liking of food Theoretical, methodological and practical implications are discussed. Possible future directions for horticultural marketing strategies are identified; for the horticultural sector in general and the tomato industry in particular.
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- Fernqvist, Fredrik
(författare)
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Credence
- 2018
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Ingår i: Methods in consumer research. Volume 1, New approaches to classic methods. - 9780081020890 ; , s. 531-555
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)
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| 10. |
- Fernqvist, Fredrik
(författare)
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Farm to Fork Strategy – a consumer perspective
- 2021
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The Farm to Fork Strategy has two opposite goals: One is increasing the farmer incomes and the other is to make affordable, healthy and sustainable food available for all. It is necessary to take into consideration the complex dynamics of the whole supply chain food to be able to put forward solutions addressing this.Several challenges are discussed in this report, as well as potential conflicts of interest. There are many possible synergies in illuminating sustainability issues from several perspectives. From a research perspective this would mean working more in interdisciplinary teams. It would likely need to include participatory approaches together with actors from the whole supply/value chain, including the involvement of consumers. Not only to be able to solve practical problems, but also increase the flow of knowledge and information in any direction. It will require a variety of research methods from several disciplines, bot qualitative and quantitative approaches. Having a food system perspective could also help in working with the challenges, but we also must also realise that there are always resource constraints and we cannot do all at once.The Farm to Fork Strategy is somehow limited with what it addresses. It addresses issues related to sustainability, both on the production and consumption side. It addresses the need for action. But the body of proposed actions is actually rather meagre (well, if it is result of negotiation between different parties, that is perhaps not so surprising). The focus is on a need to produce food more sustainable, introduce new technologies, to promote sustainable food towards the consumer and “foster” it to make the right choices. Price of food should also be just about right for both farmers and consumers. Issues as health, food waste, environmental impact, and so on, are lifted. It is somehow bothering that consumer behaviour, and how to influence the consumers’ behaviours, is simplified in this context. This also regards the lack of addressing the behaviours among other actors in the food value chain.There are many questions that arise: How should farmers, managers and businesses improve their processes to better work with the sustainability challenges? How can they increase the degree of innovation? How can they meet changing market demands and adopt to a changing market? How can and should they act in a dynamic food system? How will knowledge and technology spread in a more efficient way than today? How the supporting systems (for example innovation and knowledge systems) support change towards increased sustainability? How can we change current norms and conventions that possibly put restraints on the sustainability transition? Many more gaps may be found, and just the occurrence of all questions show how complex it is. The strategy mainly focuses on the questions of what and why, but less on how to do it. But with the new Horizon Europe programme, many opportunities arise to research on it and increase our knowledge on how.Solutions for a more sustainable food system must most likely be developed through collaboration, including actors from the whole value chain, include consumers in the process, taking knowledge from multiple disciplines in science and make a joint effort to try to solve a very complex problem. The process of ‘muddling through’, as described by Lindblom (1959), perhaps best describes the work ahead.
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