Two complementary studies from the ET4D project: consumer attitudes toward dairy, sustainability, and animal welfare — and dairy farmers’ perspectives on technology, transparency, and production practices across Europe and beyond.
Understanding consumer perspectives on dairy production, environmental sustainability, and animal welfare across six European countries.
As part of the ET4D project, we conducted a comprehensive consumer survey across six European countries: Poland, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, and Turkey. The study included 360 participants and explored consumer attitudes and behaviors related to milk and dairy products, with a particular focus on environmental sustainability and animal welfare.
Almost 90% believe individual lifestyle choices impact the environment – positively or negatively.
Over 60% declared willingness to change their lifestyle to help protect nature.
More than 75% said it's worth paying more for healthy food.
However, when it comes to purchasing decisions, traditional factors such as price, taste, and brand still dominate. Only 3.9% of respondents spontaneously mentioned the environmental impact of milk production. This highlights the need for better communication tools and clearer information.
Consumers are increasingly aware of how dairy animals are treated. When asked open-ended questions, nearly half of respondents mentioned housing conditions for cows as an important concern.
Nearly 50% mentioned housing conditions for cows as a top concern.
29% cited access to pasture as an important animal welfare factor.
27% mentioned feeding practices as a key consideration.
Over 40% selected animal health when shown a list of options.
More than half of respondents said they would pay up to 30% more for milk from farms that meet high animal welfare standards — especially in Poland and Turkey.
Despite growing awareness, traditional factors continue to drive purchasing decisions — informing how we design better information systems.
Consumer priorities vary significantly by country, reflecting national cultures and purchasing habits:
Most consumers (77%) do not buy milk only for themselves. They shop for family or household members, so purchasing decisions must balance multiple preferences.
More than half frequently discuss shopping choices with others — making it harder for environmental or welfare values to guide final decisions when cost and familiarity also matter.
Buy milk for family or household members
Consumers want to make better choices but need the right information tools. Many expressed strong support for ethical production practices.
Support stronger penalties for producers who mistreat animals
Willing to boycott unethical companies
Acting on ethical values is limited by the lack of clear, accessible information about how milk is produced. ET4D aims to bridge this gap with transparent, real-time data about dairy farm conditions.
Producer experiences with modern technologies, attitudes toward sustainability and animal welfare, and openness to sharing production-related data.
We surveyed dairy farmers in seven countries: Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Poland, and Turkey. The study included 70 producers and explored their experiences with modern technologies, attitudes toward sustainability and animal welfare, and openness to sharing production-related data.
Dairy farmers are often perceived as resistant to change, but our results tell a different story. Most respondents already operate highly automated farms and use a wide range of modern technologies — from milking systems to animal health monitoring and digital herd management.
Advanced tools are already part of everyday farm operations, not a distant future.
Farmers associate technology with efficiency, better herd management, time savings, and enhanced animal health.
They adopt new solutions when benefits are clear, practical, and economically justified — not unconditionally.
When presented with an environmental monitoring device for barns, nearly two-thirds of farmers expressed interest in installing it — suggesting strong potential for further technological development.
The biggest barriers are not attitudes but practical conditions: limited internet connectivity, uncertainty about integrating new tools with existing systems, and doubts about real economic returns. Adoption is less about willingness and more about feasibility.
Farmers are not interested in raw data or complex reports. They want tools that support decision-making: warning signals, clear indicators, practical recommendations, and the ability to track trends over time.
Technologies are expected to act as advisors that guide daily decisions — not merely collect measurements.
All surveyed farmers consider animal welfare important; many believe standards should be even higher. A large share declared willingness to accept increased production costs to improve welfare conditions.
Welfare is not only a regulatory requirement but a deeply held value among producers.
Farmers are highly aware that production and lifestyle affect the environment — though awareness does not always translate into action.
Sustainable change is shaped by economic pressures, infrastructure, and broader system conditions — not attitudes alone.
Farmers generally support sharing information about production, especially animal welfare and farm conditions. They see transparency as increasingly expected by consumers and important for building trust.
Welfare and farm-condition data are seen as valuable to share with stakeholders and the public.
Many consider certain production data confidential and hesitate to share detailed information publicly.
Some question whether transparency leads to real financial benefits — balancing openness with control.
Dairy farmers are not resistant to innovation — they are open, experienced, and willing to adopt new solutions. Their decisions are shaped by practical realities.
For new technologies to succeed, they must:
Understanding these perspectives is essential to designing tools that work — not only technologically, but also socially. ET4D bridges farmer pragmatism with consumer demand for transparency.