New Zealanders' Sentiments and Attitudes Towards a “Beyond Organic” Food Production System

A novel consumer research methodology, text highlighting, was used to explore what New Zealand consumers like and dislike about a 20-sentence text describing a "beyond organic" food production system, based on biodynamic practices. The results were compared with those previously collected and published for Australian, Singaporean, British and German consumers. The method allows consumer sentiments (liking minus disliking) to be calculated for individual sentences, and New Zealanders' sentiments varied from +46.9 to -19.0. New Zealanders responded positively to sentences about "balanced ways of farming," "soil fertility and wellbeing," "biodiversity," "ecosystems," and "guardians of the land." The highest sentiment (+46.9) was for the sentence: "Beyond organic" farmers care for the soil, groundwater, and wildlife to build healthy ecosystems and rich biodiversity." Differences between countries, when they existed, suggest that New Zealanders are more supportive of farmers and the role of farming in local communities.