Consumer preferences for the genomic selection for particular traits in breeding dairy cows in Canada

• Author / Creator

  Jiwon, Kim

• This study examines Canadian public preferences for the use of genomic selection in breeding dairy cows for four main traits– feed efficiency, methane emission reduction, enhanced disease resilience, improved cow fertility as well as the use of antibiotics. Since this research information might be helpful to guide farmers to tap into consumer preferences and make better decisions which can beneficial for both animal, environment and themselves, this study identified the characteristics of individuals who are more or less in favor of one or more traits as well as public preferences for the four main traits and the use of antibiotics. Based on the survey results, two approaches, conditional logit and latent class models which can capture respondent heterogeneity were estimated, and heterogeneity does exist across survey respondents. Given the analyses, the feed efficiency trait was preferred the most based in the conditional logit models. On the other hand, the enhanced disease resilience and feed efficiency traits are preferred the most based on the latent class model. Furthermore, as the latent class model may reflect the reality well through exploring heterogeneity, there were nine identified classes of respondents with different preferences. There are variations across classes with respect to environmental self-assessed knowledge, myths of nature, animal husbandry, and on top of gender, number of children under age 18 across the nine classes. Lastly, the predicted shares for dairy products produced with genomic selective breeding with each of the four traits was predicted. There is around 67.3~74.6% market demand for the dairy products produced with the enhanced disease resilience trait. Regarding the feed efficiency trait, the expected market demand is around 51.9~54.9%, while around 8.5~9.2% for the improved fertility trait. Also, there is about 34.7~41% market demand for the dairy products which have the methane emission reduction attribute. When it comes to the use of antibiotics, around 48.4~55.3% people like the therapeutic use of antibiotics as opposed to no antibiotics.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Dairy Industry
  • Genomic selection
  • Choice experiment
  • Consumer preference

• Graduation date

  Spring 2022

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-7rtd-0558

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.