Demand and Willingness to Pay for Cultivated Beef, Plant Based Alternatives and Farm Raised Beef: Evidence from a large sample of U.S. food buyers?

• Agricultural Economics Workshop

Date and Location

Thursday, May 18, 2023, 3:45 PM - 5:45 PM
ARE Library Conference Room, 4101 Social Sciences and Humanities

Abstract

The demand for cultivated beef raises challenges since there are not yet commercial products. Our nationwide web-based survey asked 110 thousand respondents to select one among three products (cultivated beef, farm-raised beef, and plant-based alternatives) at different prices. About 9% of respondents selected cultivated beef relative to farm-animal beef at the same price, whereas about 23% chose cultivated relative to plan-based, with about 50% saying “neither.” Results indicate that about 13% of respondents selected cultivated beef if all products were about $5/pound a share that falls to about 9% when the offered price of cultivated beef rises to $10. The WTP of cultivated beef is $7.27/pound at the 90th percentile. The implied demand elasticity for cultivated beef is -0.6 to -0.7 at the price of $7.50 per pound.