Sustainability and Consumer Willingness to Pay for Legumes: A Laboratory Study with Lentils

We performed a laboratory study in France to explore consumer reactions to information about lentils, a legume whose consumption is sustainable and recommended by nutritionists and environmentalists. More specifically, we examined the effect of informational messages on consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for lentils bearing different production labels. Study participants were given two generic messages designed to promote lentils as a general product with nutritional and environmental benefits. These messages were followed by two specific messages related to one lentil packet with revealed information about the use of certain agricultural practices (e.g., intercropping, organic and local production, and producer partnerships). Initial WTP were measured before the information was provided. The results show that labeling had a strong influence on initial WTP. When WTP were measured after the participants had received the generic and specific informational messages, we observed a weak but significant influence for the lentils with organic and local production labels. There was no effect for the lentils without any production labels. We thus conclude that providing generic information via official recommendations and further developing legume labeling systems could act synergistically to drive some weak changes in consumer choices.