Purchasing foods produced on organic, small and local farms: A mixed method analysis of New England consumers

Abstract

Research focused on consumer behavior and attitudes toward organic, small-scale and locally produced foods can help organic producers understand consumer values, and in turn develop production and marketing approaches that match these values. This research on New England area food shoppers included focus groups, individual interviews, and a mail survey, all of which helped us to identify relationships between organic food buying and consumers' views of the food system. Comments made in focus groups and individual interviews revealed a frequent blending of the concepts of local, small-scale and organic, and their associated benefits. Subsequent mail surveys identified similar tendencies, although respondents made some distinctions among the reasons why they bought food from the three farm categories. When there were differences, respondents tended to attribute greater importance to reasons to buy from local farms, as compared to organic or small farms. The six questions for which the differences across farm categories had the lowest P-values were related to the environment, rural economy, rural landscape, farmers, product freshness and product taste. However, freshness, taste, nutritional quality and safety were some of the most compelling reasons that were attributed to all three farm categories. The challenge for the small, local and organic producer will be to continue to hold the consumer's attention as the general perception of organic farming shifts to a more industrialized model.

Consumer perceptions of produce safety: A study of Pennsylvania

“…The bivariate analyses documented that Pennsylvania consumers are linking produce safety with local produce and organic produce. These results support previous findings that consumers perceive the attributes of locally grown, organically grown, and inspected to verify compliance with onfarm food safety standards to provide enhanced safety (Berlin et al, 2009;Onozaka et al, 2010;Pirog & Larson, 2007;Yue & Tong, 2009). Pennsylvania produce growers and supermarkets might find value in marketing produce that is local, organic or GAP certified.…”

“…Consumers associate organic produce with similar attributes as local produce, including perceived benefits to the environment, local farms, nutrition, and taste (Bostrom, 2005;Dimitri & Greene, 2002;Yue & Tong, 2009). Food safety has also been listed as an important reason that consumers prefer locally and organically grown produce (Berlin, Lockeretz, & Bell, 2009;Bond et al, 2008;Onozaka et al, 2010;Yue & Tong, 2009). These findings indicate that growers and supermarkets can position themselves advantageously by meeting consumer demands for produce that is local, organic and safe.…”

Organic food: What we know (and do not know) about consumers

“…In addition, research has been completed, which contributes to our understanding of specific aspects of how to market organic products. This includes consumer behavior for local organic foods 4 as well as consideration of 'low input' and organic foods 5 through to how the organic quality assurance system may be used to develop a marketing strategy 6 and decision-making processes for organic food consumers 7 . As this proliferation of previously mentioned articles indicates, understanding human behavior in the context of food purchases remains a frontier for scientific enquiry.…”

Microbiological safety and quality aspects of the short supply chain

“…resource conservation, animal welfare, the revival of a sense of community, enjoyment of cooking, etc.). Rural economy benefits from the increase in activity and profits through direct sales (Berlin et al, 2009;Carey et al, 2011). Typical for the short food supply chains is that there is a face to face or proximate producer-consumer relation and often the producer involved uses this direct contact with the consumer in marketing his products and exchanges information on quality attributes and provenance of the food to the overall more involved and interested consumer who makes his purchases in the short food supply chain.…”