C., João MaurícioFernandes, Maria Eduarda2025-12-042025-12-042024-04João Maurício, C., & Fernandes, M. E. (2023, May). Consumers’ Acceptance and Willingness to Pay for Innovative and Sustainable Food–an Exploratory Study. In International Conference on Water Energy Food and Sustainability (pp. 437-445). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.97830314853129783031485329http://hdl.handle.net/10400.8/14870Part of the book series: Springer Proceedings in Earth and Environmental Sciences (SPEES).Included in the following conference series: International Conference on Water Energy Food and SustainabilityThe agricultural sector is currently facing several challenges, and needs to evolve to a more sustainable system. Consumers have a major role to play in this transformation. In this sense, this study aims to explore Portuguese consumers’ receptiveness and willingness to pay (WTP) for innovative and more sustainable food. Particularly, for apples produced in an innovative and sustainable way, making using of algae from the Portuguese coast. Additionally, the impact of information provided to consumers about the consequences of consuming this new product, on their receptiveness and willingness to pay, is tested: focusing on health benefits of the new product vs. on the environmental benefits. To this end, an online questionnaire was conducted in Portugal in July 2022. From a sample of 411 valid answers and 396 apple consumers, a wide majority (86.9%) were receptive to this innovative and sustainable apples and was willing to pay a price premium of 0.35 e/kg compared to the conventional apples (average price of 1.95 e/kg for sustainable apples, compared to 1.60 e/kg for conventional apples). This WTP was not influenced by the type of information provided in terms of benefits of the new product (health vs. environment) but the acceptance for the innovative apple increased with the provision of information. Additionally, some respondent’s ecological consumption habits and socioeconomic characteristics demonstrated to be statistically significant for the WTP. These results indicate that consumers are aware of the need to move towards a more sustainable food sector and value this innovative (and more sustainable) apples.engSustainable foodConsumers’ receptivenessWillingness to paybook part10.1007/978-3-031-48532-9_40