Overview

News

Gentle nudges for increased animal welfare

Gentle purchase incentives can lead customers to choose groceries with higher animal husbandry standards more often. A recent study at the University of Bonn at least suggests this. The researchers used two different animal welfare label posters as “nudges.” Each poster itself changed the consumer behavior of participants shopping in a virtual supermarket. The share of products with higher animal welfare standards in the shopping cart was highest when both posters were combined. Further studies have yet to clarify the extent to which the results can be transferred to real shopping situations. The study has been published in the Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics.

Bodo Rehm receives the Early-Career REECAP Award

Bodo Rehm received the Early-Career Award at the 8th Annual REECAP Meeting, held in Ljubljana from 22 to 24 June 2026, for his presentation titled “Crop Diversification with Lupin: A Lab-in-the-Field Experiment with German Farmers”.

Cheese without cows?

An increasing number of people are turning to vegan products. However, when it comes to cheese, this transition is proving difficult. One alternative is precision fermentation, in which microorganisms produce milk proteins to enable the production of genuine dairy products, such as cheese, without the need for cows. But would consumers actually buy such cheese? Researchers from the Department of Agricultural and Food Market Research at the University of Bonn investigated this question. Their study has now been published in the journal ‘Food Quality and Preference’.

Christian Patermann Award for Jeanette Klink-Lehmann and Marco Löhrer

The 9th International BioSC Symposium was held on November 24–25, 2025, in Bonn, with around 150 participants discussing bioeconomy, circularity, and sustainability. During the event, Thorsten Menne presented the BioSC Christian Patermann Award 2025 to Jeanette Klink-Lehmann and Marco Löhrer for outstanding PhD supervision.

Staff

News

Publications

Projects

Research

Teaching

Welcome to the Agricultural and Food Market Research Group!

Our research group analyzes in an interdisciplinary team - consisting of agricultural economists, as well as nutritional and political scientists - the behavior of consumers and other stakeholders in the value chains of the agri-food sector. In our research projects, we gain knowledge on how the transformation process, that is necessary to achieve the sustainability goals, can be promoted.

Thank you for your interest in our website!

Prof. Dr. Monika Hartmann

monika.hartmann@ilr.uni-bonn.de

+49 228 73 - 3538

Head of Group Agricultural and Food Market Research

Additional contact information

Prof. Dr. Monika Hartmann

Secretary's Office

Stefanie Müller-Feigl

Contact details

+ 49 228 73-3538

mafo@ilr.uni-bonn.de

Address

1st floor, room 1.013

Nussallee 19
53115 Bonn

Our Research & Current Projects

The research of our team focuses on the analysis of determinants and effects of ecologically, socially, and economically (un)responsible actions of stakeholders in the agricultural and food sector - this ranges from production and processing to consumption and also includes the consideration of institutional framework conditions. Based on this, we investigate the potential of market strategies as well as the role and legitimacy of policy interventions in initiating and transforming the food sector towards more sustainable ways of production and consumption. The spectrum of the research work of the research group covers the following issues:

Which factors influence the acceptance of citizens and actors in the food value chain with regard to new, more sustainable technologies, products, and social innovations in the agricultural and food sectors?
How do consumers make their food choices? What role do attitudes, social norms and habits play in explaining behavior?
How do actors in agriculture, the food industry, and the grocery trade react to new consumer and policy demands regarding the safety and sustainability of products and processes?
How can sustainable development take place in a competitive and increasingly concentrated agricultural and food sector?
How do actors on the agricultural and food markets deal with conflicting objectives?

All projects

SludgeChain

Investigate the regulatory challenges to material utilization of bio-based resources such as hemp and miscanthus.

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Consumer Perception of Aquaculture in North Rhine-Westphalia

Evidence-based identification of communication barriers and solutions for application-oriented transfer strategies.

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Hebrew University of Jerusalem and University of Bonn Collaborative Research Grant

This project investigates how implicit attitudes shape consumer preferences for the country of origin of food products.

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PepTechFruit

Investigate consumers' acceptance of a new food technology, i.e., peptide-based ethylene inhibitors technology.

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OptiCellu

Investigate consumers' perception and acceptance of different types of cellulose-based products.

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Teaching

1/3 © Maximilian Meyer

2/3 © Leonie Bach

3/3 © Maximilian Meyer

BSc Agrarwissenschaften/ BSc Ernährungs- und Lebensmittelwissenschaften

Ökonomie II (WISO I: Politik und Märkte der Ernährungswirtschaft)
Einführung in die Methoden der empirischen Forschung
Agrar- und Lebensmittelmärkte – Marktbedingungen und Marketing
AGR-051: Verbraucher- und Ernährungspolitik

MSc Agricultural and Food Economics (AFECO)

Advanced Methods
Behavioral Economics
Communication in the Food Sector
Ethics in Food Consumption and Production
Extended Methods of Empirical Research
Food Industrial Economics
Food Marketing
Global Agriculture and Food Markets

NEWS

The next Bachelor Thesis-Café will take place

to be decided...

AFECO-Modulhandbuch

Bachelor & Master Theses Topics

Templates for Theses

Staff

Our interdisciplinary team consists of agricultural economists, psychologists, nutritionists as well as sustainability, communication and political scientists.