A University of Guelph professor believes information on the kind of tradeoffs consumers face each day at the grocery store is important.
Professor John Cranfield's research suggests the more information consumers get, the less of a premium they're willing to pay for some of the changes being urged on the animal agriculture sector.
He cites the current discussion about egg production.
Some of this country's major grocers say they want to be buying cage-free eggs by 2025.
However, Cranfield researched how consumers felt about that initially and then after they'd been told about the positive and negative consequences of alternative hen housing systems.
"For the people who were exposed to that additional information that talked about the consequences associated with those housing systems on hen health, hen welfare, and the environmental impacts of it, the willingness to pay was actually lower than for those people who weren't exposed to that information."
The University of Guelph professor thinks it's important the industry find a credible source to provide that information to consumers.
"Part of this is, have you got a voice from someone who's actually a producer who consumers will trust and who feel that there's some transparency and some credibility who's explaining why these housing systems are the way that they are and what the consequences are with them and what this means for the hen both in terms of their welfare and also their health."
And he suggests consumers need to be told the systems used in modern animal agriculture have evolved for a reason that often has as much or more to do with the health of the animals than the costs involved.
No matter what changes are made, Professor Cranfield cautions they will require significant investments and changes in infrastructure - which means it will take time to come about.
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"Producers, I think, rightly so, might argue that these confinement systems actually serve a very useful purpose. In the case of hogs, it's about piglet mortality and so making sure people understand that these systems have evolved the way they have for a reason."
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Cranfield's project compared the premium consumers would pay for cage-free eggs initially and then after they were given more information about some of the possible down-side to that system.
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Professor John Cranfield suggests the trick is to come up with a credible source consumers are willing to listen to.
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Cranfield believes getting that information to consumers is important for all food-producing sectors.
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