Trusting is good? Hints from an exploratory survey on trust in agri-food professions

Abstract

Trust is considered a fundamental requisite for markets to work properly. In 2014, GFK Verein published a study that measured the trust of ordinary people from 25 countries of the world towards over 30 professions. In almost all the countries surveyed farmers are among the professions in which people trust more. Moving from this evidence, the paper presents a preliminary exploration on the level of trust for different professions of the agricultural and food chains in Italy. An explorative analysis has been carried out through a questionnaire submitted to a group of university students. The people interviewed confirmed that professions involved at different stages in the agri-food chains receive a high degree of trust: among these: farmers (83%) are the most trusted in, followed by chefs (78%), wine producers (75%), organic farmers (72%), and butchers (70%). Results are commented and possible practical implications are discussed in the final section.