Search results

Based on a mixed methods approach, this article describes the prevalence of different levels of food budget restraints in a sample of 1,650 Danish households, and explores different types of coping strategies to deal with such restraints. Strategies concerned cooking, eating and buying food. A deeper knowledge of coping strategies was obtained by analysing qualitative data from interviews with thirty families who have experienced food budget restraints. Results revealed that more than 40 per cent reported some level of restraint on their food budget, while about 20 per cent experienced more substantial food budget restraints or food insecurity. Single parent households were at significantly greater risk of experiencing restraint than others. An investigation of coping strategies showed that some strategies, for example, using leftovers and cooking seasonal products, were common across all levels of budget restraint, while strategies affecting social life and taste preferences negatively were mostly applied when restraint was more severe. The qualitative analysis explored how the various strategies involved the potential for both positive and negative experiences for the individual, depending on the wider context surrounding the need to reduce household food budgets. Results from this study may be important for developing adequate measures to influence food purchases and eating practices in specific groups in situations of widespread economic turbulence in welfare societies.

Woody biomass energy makes up a large share of renewable energy consumption in the EU, and the largest share in countries like Denmark. However, little is known about how the public perceive it. This paper presents the results of a questionnaire-based survey of the public in Denmark focusing on attitudes toward woody biomass for energy. The main findings are that, while more people favor than oppose it, a large proportion are undecided about the use of woody biomass. The survey also revealed a lack of knowledge about this energy source. A Best-Worst Scaling methodology revealed that Danes prioritize environmental sustainability concerns – namely biodiversity loss, the hindering of the development of other renewable energy sources and the climate change mitigation potential of woody biomass – over societal and/or economic ones when it comes to the promotion of woody biomass. Finally, it was found that concern about climate change, belief in the mitigation potential of woody biomass, and being younger explained the formation of positive attitudes toward woody biomass. Policy makers aiming to take public concerns into account in discussions about Denmark's energy future should focus more on minimizing the negative environmental impacts associated with woody biomass rather than on its economic benefits.

AbstractThis study uses qualitative and quantitative data as well as household panel data regarding actual purchases of organic food in order to make a psychographic profiling of organic consumers and examine recent developments of organic demand inDenmark. It is shown that contemporary organic consumers have become a heterogeneous group, since three distinct positively minded segments are identified. These positively minded segments hold a very high share of all organic food sales on theDanish market and are also driving demand forward. TheDanish organic market can be said to have matured insofar as positively oriented segments that differ in their food involvement, shopping behaviour and levels of ethical concern have appeared, while marketing and distribution strategies have co‐developed with these trends. We discuss our findings in the light of the attitude‐behaviour gap that is said to exist in regard to organic consumption and the consequences that are thought to follow from the detachment of consumers from organic producers according to the much debated conventionalisation thesis.