Establishment of a new cost-effective analytical framework for identifying consumer needs for agricultural products

• Project/Area Number: 17K15327
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Agricultural science in management and economy
• Research Institution: Chiba University
• Principal Investigator: Yano Yuki 千葉大学, 大学院園芸学研究科, 講師 (40618485)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2020)
• Budget Amount: ¥4,420,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,020,000); Fiscal Year 2019: ¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000); Fiscal Year 2018: ¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000); Fiscal Year 2017: ¥1,560,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥360,000)
• Keywords: 消費者意識 / ニーズ / テキストマイニング / チャット / 農産品 / 植物工場 / ゲノム編集食品 / 情報提供 / 共起ネットワーク / 葉物野菜 / ネットワーク分析 / 消費者ニーズ / チャット形式 / 農業経済学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study demonstrates how data collection via online bulletin board or chat interviews and co-occurrence network analysis can be used to reveal consumer opinions and needs about agricultural products. Specifically, it takes up the case of plant factory vegetables and reveals that some consumers have negative opinions about the vegetables grown indoors, and to improve their image, it is important to ask the producers or experts who are considered highly reliable by consumers to explain the reasons why leafy vegetables can even grow well under artificial light.

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

学術的な貢献としては，近年，統計物理学の分野で発展しているネットワーク内のコミュニティ抽出法を，多くの消費者から得られた自由記述回答文の分析に適用し，頻出する話題をシステマティックに抽出することに成功したことが挙げられる。社会的な貢献としては，近年注目を浴びている植物工場野菜に対する消費者のイメージや情報ニーズを明らかにしたことが挙げられる。また，情報提供の際には，情報源の信頼度が重要な役割を果たすことを示した。

Research Products

• [Journal Article] Consumer Attitudes toward Vertically Farmed Produce in Russia: A Study Using Ordered Logit and Co-Occurrence Network Analysis (2021)
  • Author(s): Yano Yuki、Nakamura Tetsuya、Ishitsuka Satoshi、Maruyama Atsushi
  • Journal Title: Foods Volume: 10 Issue: 3 Pages: 638-638
  • DOI: 10.3390/foods10030638
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access
• [Journal Article] Examining the opinions of potential consumers about plant‐derived cosmetics: An approach combining word association, co‐occurrence network, and multivariate probit analysis (2019)
  • Author(s): Yano Yuki、Kato Eri、Ohe Yasuo、Blandford David
  • Journal Title: Journal of Sensory Studies Volume: 34 Issue: 2 Pages: 1-9
  • DOI: 10.1111/joss.12484
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] Consumer perceptions of fresh leafy vegetables in Japan (2018)
  • Author(s): Yano Yuki、Blandford David、Maruyama Atsushi、Nakamura Tetsuya
  • Journal Title: British Food Journal Volume: 120 Issue: 11 Pages: 2554-2568
  • DOI: 10.1108/bfj-09-2017-0500
  • Peer Reviewed / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] Consumer perceptions of fresh leafy vegetables in Japan: An application of word co-occurrence network analysis (2018)
  • Author(s): Yuki Yano, David Blandford, Atsushi Maruyama, Tetsuya Nakamura
  • Journal Title: British Food Journal Volume: 印刷中
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Presentation] Exploring consumers' attitude and perception towards functional leafy vegetables grown under artificial lighting (2018)
  • Author(s): Yano Yuki、Ishida Takashi、Maruyama Atsushi
  • Organizer: 68th Annual Meeting of the Association for Regional Agricultural and Forestry Economics
• [Presentation] Consumer perceptions and overall rating for leafy vegetables grown under artificial lighting in Russia (2018)
  • Author(s): Yano Yuki、Nakamura Tetsuya、Ishitsuka Satoshi、Maruyama Atsushi
  • Organizer: 2018 Conference of the Japanese Society of Regional and Agricultural Development
• [Presentation] チャット形式の調査による農産物に対する消費者ニーズの解明 (2017)
  • Author(s): 矢野佑樹・中村哲也・丸山敦史
  • Organizer: 2017年度地域農林経済学会近畿支部大会