Graduate student Davidson Obilor Nwaonu studies how research affects consumer choices and shapes climate policy

Davidson Obilor Nwaonu is motivated by climate change. With a wary eye on rising sea levels and food shortages, the agricultural and resource economics graduate student in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources studies how consumers and policymakers shape climate-smart solutions in agriculture. 

“25 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture,” said Nwaonu referencing a September 2024 article published in the journal Science. “If we can reduce greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture, we can considerably mitigate climate change.”

One way to reduce emissions from agriculture is to adopt climate-smart production practices like integrated nutrient management and precision farming, which use technology like automation and GPS to make farms more efficient. These practices can be expensive, and producers often transfer the cost to the consumers. Consumers are faced with a decision. Will they choose the more environmentally friendly option and give up the opportunity to pay a lower price? As consumers compromise between equally enticing but conflicting options, they are making a trade-off.

“My research seeks to understand how consumers make the trade-offs between climate-smart attributes of food versus health attributes of food,” Nwaonu explained. “How much are people willing to pay for food that has less impact on the planet versus food that simply satisfies their need for health and nutrition.”

Working with his advisor, Leah Palm-Forster, associate professor of applied economics and director of UD’s Center for Experimental and Applied Economics (CEAE), Nwaonu creates hypothetical choice scenarios where consumers choose between products (or decide not to buy). For example, the choices might include milk produced with varying levels of greenhouse gas reduction and milk with the added benefit of probiotics, all at varying price points. 

“People look at these options and say, probiotics, no probiotics, 50 percent reduction, 10 percent reduction, which one do I choose?” Nwaonu elaborated. “They're making a trade-off: will they trade off the price and choose the milk with higher attributes, or will they go for the lower price over a climate or a health attribute?” 

Nwaonu found scaling up the benefit of a trade-off, showing the impact of repeated purchases, crucial to consumers’ acceptance of climate-smart attributes. 

“People want their choices to have significant contributions,” Nwaonu said. “They may feel like buying one gallon of milk cannot save the planet, but if we show them the impact of repeated purchases, they often reconsider.”

“In our choice study, we scale up the costs and benefits of choosing each milk alternative,” Nwaonu elaborated. “We show people that if they bought their preferred milk every week for one year, they would have reduced X amount of carbon emissions.” 

“We highlight the benefit,” Nwaonu continued. “By showing how these emissions compare to carbon emissions from a gasoline-powered passenger vehicle driven over several miles.” 

Nwaonu is a busy Blue Hen. In addition to his graduate studies, he works at CEAE as a research assistant and peer advisory council mentor. He never misses a home football game and is a massive fan of the Fightin’ Blue Hens. 

“Davidson is a dedicated member of our CEAE community,” Palm-Forster said. “He goes above and beyond to help his peers with their research and to mentor other students.” 

Nwaonu spent the last year as a scholar at the United States Department of Agriculture’s Graduate Student Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Partners, known as USDA GradCAMP. The program is for master’s and doctoral students studying climate adaptation or mitigation on working lands or waters in the Northeast with a special interest in climate equity and justice.

The fight for climate justice is close to Nwaonu’s heart. He came to UD from an area of Nigeria polluted by oil drilling. Farming and fishing, once the livelihood of many residents, have been all but destroyed by pollution.