Consumers consider pesticide residues in food to be one of the greatest threats to food safety and their own health (Simoglou & Roditakis, 2022). Even the smallest amounts below the legal maximum residue levels are perceived as risky (Lamichhane et al., 2016). It is unclear whether and to what extent product-specific willingness to pay arises from this. Initial results in the NOcsPS project show that around a quarter of German consumers are significantly more willing to pay for NOcsPS products (Nitzko et al. 2024; Wendt & Weinrich, 2023). However, due to a lack of available products, the research focus has so far been on purely hypothetical willingness-to-pay analyses. Real supermarket experiments are therefore planned for the further progress of the project.

In the second funding phase, new genomic techniques (NGT) are also to be included. This could change the preferences of consumers. However, studies suggest that the preference for “pesticide-free” products could be stronger than the risk perception of GMOs (Grebitus & Van Loo, 2022), although it is unclear whether this also applies to NGTs.

The aim of the subproject is to shed light on the establishment of the NOcsPS vision in the market from a social science-empirical perspective. With its potential to expand the food market between “organic” and “conventional,” NOcsPS can make a significant contribution to the further market differentiation recommended by the Future Commission on Agriculture (ZKL 2021).

To determine realistic willingness-to-pay, non-hypothetical values are to be collected in supermarket experiments in collaboration with the project partner Kaufland. To this end, the relevance of various attributes on the front of the product will be examined, and possible designations and labels will be tested for consumer acceptance. The aim is to be able to derive successful marketing concepts for NOcsPS products.

With a view to social acceptance, a stakeholder analysis is used to examine various issues.

The first step is a systematic literature analysis according to the PRISMA protocol (Moher et al. 2009).

In the second step, an eye-tracking study will be conducted in conjunction with qualitative interviews. For this purpose, a desktop research will be conducted to analyze how current product packaging promoting alternative production systems is designed. Based on this, product dummies are designed, which are analyzed in the next step. The subsequent interviews should provide information about the underlying motivation of the gaze behavior and allow deeper insights into the acceptance of NOcsPS products (Schmidt, 2004), such as the knowledge and importance of fertilizer use

In the third step, the possible designation of the NOcsPS system is analyzed.

In the fourth part of this work package, a test supermarket will be set up with the aim of determining non-hypothetical willingness to pay. The results from the second and third parts of the work package will be used to create alternative product front pages.

Project step five addresses the requirements of society for the credibility of NOcsPS in the context of a stakeholder analysis, using three questions:

1. the role of chemical-synthetic crop protection for the future of agriculture.
2. the credibility requirements of an NOcsPS system from society's point of view, and
3. the role that the state should play in the development of a sustainable agricultural system compared to the role of consumers (consumer-citizen gap).