Availability, Attitudes and Willingness To Pay For Local Foods: Results of A Preliminary Survey
Availability, Attitudes and Willingness To Pay For Local Foods: Results of A Preliminary Survey
Survey
Contact:
Damian C. Adams
Department of Agricultural Economics
Oklahoma State University
316 Agricultural Hall
Stillwater, OK 74078
Phone: 405-744-6172
Email: [email protected]
Selected Paper prepared for presentation at the American Agricultural Economics Association Annual
Meeting, Orlando, FL, July 27 – 29, 2008.
Availability, Attitudes and Willingness to Pay for Local Foods: Results of a
Preliminary Survey
Introduction
In response to USDA labeling loopholes and corporate involvement in organic foods, many
consumers are touting ‘locally-produced’ as the new organic. ‘Local’ products are sought by those
interested in supporting small farms, community agriculture, sustainability, animal welfare and a host of
issues once identified with organic products (Brown, 2003; Darby et al., 2006). There is still very little
literature on the economics of local food. A few studies have estimated willingness to pay (WTP) for local
foods (e.g., Buchardi et al., 2005); yet these studies assume that local foods are as accessible, or are the
same as their counterparts on all characteristics except for taste, price and other factors that do not capture
This paper presents the results of a preliminary intercept survey of consumers at farmers’ markets in
Gainesville, Florida in 2007. We developed survey questions to identify: (1) how much fruit and vegetable
produce respondents buy from local sources; (2) attitudes regarding local foods; (3) definitions of local by
distance and ownership; (4) WTP for local foods; (5) perceptions of the availability and cost of local
products; and (6) demographic information. In addition to WTP, we employed several tools—a Likert scale,
a cost/availability matrix, and other investigatory and demographic questions—to analyze factors affecting
purchasing decisions. These include relative cost, accessibility, attitudes and perceptions of the term ‘local.’
In the following sections, we report and describe the results of the survey, including a regression analysis of
WTP as a function of attitudinal, behavioral, and demographic variables. Given the small sample size, the
results are largely not statistically significant. Yet, they are useful for refining the survey instrument for a
larger study. In the following sections, we report the results of the preliminary survey.
questions to define local in terms of miles and farm ownership. These are discussed in more detail in Table
1 below and in the following sections. We pre-tested and refined the survey using student volunteers
(n=77), consumer interviews at a local grocery store (n=13) and survey experts (n=4). The survey was
administered by student teams in mid-July, 2007 at two farmers’ markets for two hours each. Ninety-seven
LC, AS, 1 = Never Shops at large grocery chain (LC), alternative grocery
FM, RS, 2 = Twice a year or more stores (AS), farmers’ market (FM), roadside stand
3
DM, UP, 3 = Once a month or more (RS), direct marketing program (DM), U-pick farm
OT 4 = Once a week or more (UP), and “other” source (OT)
The term ‘local’ is relatively fluid (See Table 2 and Figure 1 below); for example, only 8.43% stated
that local food could come from over 100 miles, 28.41% said within 10 or 30 miles, 42.1% within 50 miles,
and 21.05% within 100 miles. Ownership is also an important characteristic of local food—69.89% said it
45.00%
40.00%
35.00%
30.00%
Percent Frequency
25.00%
20.00%
15.00%
10.00%
5.00%
0.00%
<10 miles <30 miles <50 miles <100 miles In FL In SE In US
Respondents were asked to indicate how frequently they buy fruits and vegetables from the
following sources: (1) Large chain grocery stores (e.g., Publix, Winn-Dixie, Albertson’s); (2) Alternative
grocery stores (e.g., Mother earth, Ward’s); (3) Farmers’ markets; (4) Roadside stands; (5) Direct marketing
programs (e.g., community supported agriculture); (6) U-pick farms; and (7) Other (please write in your
source). The results are reported in Table 3 and Figure 2 below. Respondents favored large chain and
“alternative” grocery stores for their vegetable and fruit shopping. Over 82% indicated buying those
products from a large chain grocer “once a month or more” (40.63%) or “once a week or more” (41.67%),
and over 67% indicated buying at an alternative grocery either “once a month or more” (31.25%) or “once a
week or more” (36.46%). Over 62% of respondents frequently bought at farmer’s markets, visiting “once a
month or more” (27.08%) or “once a week or more” (35.42%). Other sources for fruits and vegetables
included home gardens, U-Pick, and community-supported agriculture programs (CSAs). Interestingly,
10.42% of respondents “never” purchased fruits or vegetables at a farmer’s market over the last year,
perhaps visiting the markets for entertainment or products other than fruits and vegetables.
Table 3. Frequency of Fruit and Vegetable Purchases by Venue
Frequency of purchases of fruits or vegetables by venue
Frequent
3- Once a
2- Twice a 4- Once a visitor
1- Never month or
year or more week or more (Group 3 &
more
4)
Large Chain 6.25% 11.46% 40.63% 41.67% 82.29%
Alternative
Grocery 14.58% 17.71% 31.25% 36.46% 67.71%
Farmer's
Markets 10.42% 27.08% 27.08% 35.42% 62.50%
Roadside
Stands 41.67% 38.54% 15.63% 4.17% 19.79%
Direct
Marketing 83.33% 12.50% 2.08% 2.08% 4.17%
U-Pick 68.75% 28.13% 3.13% 0.00% 3.13%
Other 89.58% 3.13% 3.13% 4.17% 7.29%
100%
90%
80%
70%
Percent of Respondents
60%
Never
Twice a year or more
50%
Once a month or more
Once a week or more
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Large Chain Farmers' Alternative Roadside U-Pick Farms Direct Other
Grocery Stores Markets Grocery Stores Stands Marketing
Programs
(CSAs)
Venue
Figure 2. Reported Frequency of Fruit & Vegetable Purchases by Venue, Gainesville, FL.
Simple Willingness-to-Pay Estimate
The survey included one simple, open-ended willingness-to-pay question. Respondents were asked
to consider “two fresh produce items of similar quality, appearance, and freshness”—one non-local and
costing $1.00 and the other local. We then asked how much they would be willing to pay for the item that
was grown locally. The results are reported in Table 4, Figure 3 and Figure 4 below. Most respondents
indicated that they were willing to pay more for a generic “local” product of “similar quality, appearance
and freshness” to a non-local counterpart. Only 13.98% of respondents indicated no increased WTP for the
local characteristic, while 18.28% were willing to pay up to 1/3 more, 31.18% were willing to pay between
1/3 and 2/3 more, 25.81% were willing to pay between 2/3 and 1 times more, and 10.75% of respondents
were willing to pay over 2 times as much for the local version of the generically described product.
35.00%
30.00%
25.00%
Percent Frequency
20.00%
15.00%
10.00%
5.00%
0.00%
≤1.00 1.01 - 1.33 1.34 - 1.66 1.67 - 2.00 >2.00
Willingness-to-Pay
≤1.00* 13.98%
>2.00 10.75%
*note: only one respondent reported WTP less ($.99) for local.
4.00
3.50
3.00
2.50
"Local" Premium
y = -0.5559Ln(x) + 1.0785
R2 = 0.9271
2.00
1.50
1.00
0.50
0.00
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Percent of Respondents
Likert Scale
A literature review and discussion with 17 experts revealed 20 factors driving purchases of local
over non-local products. From this list, we developed 97 positive and negative statements about local foods
and used two rounds of screening tests to eliminate questions with inconsistent answers according to an
accepted methodology (Spector, 1991). After the second round, we had 15 statements for our Likert scale
with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.931, considered strong (Spector, 1991). Broadly speaking, the Likert scale
included questions on five factors: (1) the environment; (2) product quality; (3) farm-worker welfare; (4)
Health; and (5) Income. All 15 statements were positive, giving us a uni-directional Likert scale (see Table
5).
Each respondent was asked their level of agreement with each of the 15 questions (1- Strongly
Disagree, 2- Disagree, 3- Neutral, 4- Agree, 5- Strongly Agree). We calculated summated scores for each
respondent where those with scores above 45 expressed agreement or strong agreement with the positive
statements, and those with scores below 45 disagreed or strongly disagreed with the 15 positive statements
about local food. Since the scale was uni-directional, we could not measure negative attitudes toward local
Table 5. Local Foods Likert Questions.
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly
Disagree Agree
The production of local fruits and vegetables is great for the
1 2 3 4 5
environment.
More food-related illnesses are associated with NON-local produce. 1 2 3 4 5
Fruits and vegetables that are grown locally taste a great deal better
1 2 3 4 5
than produce that is grown far away.
Produce that comes from local sources is healthier for you. 1 2 3 4 5
Local fruits and vegetables are NOT likely to have been grown with the
1 2 3 4 5
use of pesticides.
Local fruits and vegetables are grown in a way that is better for the
1 2 3 4 5
environment.
Local produce is usually nicer looking than NON-local produce. 1 2 3 4 5
score mean = 54.18, s = 9.19). A graph of respondents’ scores is reported in Figure 5 along with a normal
distribution with the same standard deviation (for comparison). Only 12.9% of respondents had Likert
Statements drawing the most disagreement among those with Likert scores above 45 were: (1)
“Local fruits and vegetables are NOT likely to have been grown with the use of pesticides” [33.3%]; (2)
“Local produce is usually nicer looking than NON-local produce” [24.7%]; (3) “Buying local produce can
help you save money on groceries” [21.5%]; and (4) “Produce that comes from local sources is more
nutritious” [21.5%].
0.35
0.3
0.25
0.2
% Frequency
0.1
0.05
0
30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80
Likert Score
Figure 5. Graph of Raw Likert Scores on Local Food (Note: respondents with scores above 45 are
considered to have a positive view of local food; scores < 45 are negative.
All) of the fruits and vegetables (FV) that they purchase is grown locally. This question serves as a check of
internal consistency with later questions on the frequency of purchase of 9 categories of fruits and
vegetables. The responses are reported in Figure 6 below. Only 2.2% indicated that “All” and 3.3%
indicated that “None” of their FV purchases were grown locally. An equal percent (38.46%) stated that
“Some” and “Most” of their FV were grown locally; only 17.58% chose “Don’t Know.”
How much of your fruit and veg purchases were GROWN locally?
45%
40%
35%
30%
% Frequency
25%
% Frequency
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
None Some Most All Don't Know
Purchases grown locally
Figure 6. Responses to “How much of the fruits and vegetables you purchase is GROWN locally?
Cost-Availability Matrix
We then asked 75 volunteers to list the top ten fruits and vegetables they bought in Alachua County,
Florida over the last year. Nine categories were dominant (the ninth lowest was reported by over 42% of
respondents). These included apples, bananas, berries, citrus, grapes, greens, carrots, tomatoes, and onions
(incl. garlic, leeks). For the nine products, we designed a “cost/availability matrix” to be paired with
responses on purchase levels as developed and applied by Swisher [personal communication] to measure
each respondent’s intensity of local foods purchases. We asked each respondent i to indicate how difficult
(d = 1- “Just as easy to find”, 2- “Slightly more difficult”, 3- “More difficult”, or 4- “Much more
difficult”) and costly (c = 1 “Same price or less”, 2- “Slightly more costly”, 3- “More costly”, or 4- “Much
more costly”) local sources of the nine categories of fruit and vegetables were. Non-responses to particular
questions on difficulty or cost were treated as “Don’t Know.” Roughly 14.2% of responses were in this
With the exception of berries (4th lowest cost, 3rd highest availability) and greens (3rd lowest cost, 4th
highest availability), the categories held the same ranking with respect to both cost and availability. Not
surprisingly, citrus and tomatoes were easiest to purchase, and grapes and bananas were most difficult to
purchase when considering only cost and availability. This is not surprising given Florida’s agricultural
production profile. Five local products were rated as “same or less” cost by at least 50% of respondents –
citrus, tomatoes, greens, berries and onions/garlic. Carrots were rated “same or less” by 48.8%. Apples,
grapes and bananas were considered “same or less” costly by less than 1/3 of respondents. Interestingly, no
product category was rated as “much more” costly by over 5% of respondents, and only apples and bananas
were rated “more” costly by over 20% of respondents. With regard to availability, four local products were
rated as “same or less” difficult to find – citrus, tomatoes berries and greens. Onions/garlic were rated
“same or less” difficult to find by 47.6% of respondents. The other four categories were rated as “same or
less” difficult to find by fewer than 30% of respondents. Three products – apples, grapes and bananas –
were rated by over 20% of respondents as “much more” difficult to find. Generally speaking, availability
may be a bigger hurdle to purchasing local food than cost. Only citrus, tomatoes and berries were
considered “same or less” costly by roughly the same percent of respondents that considered them “same or
less difficult.” All other categories showed a higher difficult rating than cost rating, although there was a
much higher “Don’t Know” rating for the cost questions. Non-responses were under 3% for all but the
bananas category (3.5%) for difficulty to find, while the cost questions generate non-responses for six of the
product categories. The highest was for grapes and bananas, with 17.9% and 22.6% non-responses,
respectively.
How much MORE costly are local sources?
80.0%
70.0%
60.0%
Percent of Respondents
50.0%
same or less
slightly more
40.0% more
much more
Unknown
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
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80.0%
70.0%
60.0%
Percent of Respondents
50.0%
same or less
slightly more
40.0% more
much more
Unknown
30.0%
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10.0%
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Frequency of Purchases
We asked respondents “What percentage of the following fruits and vegetables you purchased in the
last year were produced LOCALLY?” Responses generally followed the order indicated by the
cost/availability matrix questions (See Table 6). Tomatoes, citrus, greens, onions/garlic, and berries
purchases were from local sources more than half the time for over 23% of respondents. For citrus and
tomatoes, this was the case for over 29.9% of respondents. Carrots, grapes, bananas and apples from local
sources – which were also the most costly and most difficult to find – made up “None” of the purchases for
over 44% of respondents. For bananas and apples, this was the case for over 58% of respondents. Still, local
sources comprised a high proportion of reported purchases for five of the categories. Over 50% of
respondents reported that locally-produced purchases made up at least 25% of their purchases were
indicated for the following categories: berries (63.2%), tomatoes (57%), citrus (56.3%), and greens (51.7%).
They also made up large shares of purchases for onions/garlic and carrots, with 41.9% of respondents for
onions/garlic and 29.1% of respondents for carrots reporting at least 25% of their purchases came from local
sources. Very few respondents indicated that “Don’t Know” to the questions.
Table 6. “What percentage of the following fruits and vegetables you purchased in the last year were
produced LOCALLY?”
More than Less than
50% 25% - 50% 25% None Don't know
Tomatoes 32.6% 24.4% 20.9% 20.9% 1.2%
Citrus 29.9% 26.4% 27.6% 14.9% 1.1%
Greens 27.6% 24.1% 28.7% 19.5% 0.0%
Onions/Garlic 23.3% 18.6% 32.6% 25.6% 0.0%
Berries 23.0% 40.2% 26.4% 9.2% 1.1%
Carrots 14.0% 15.1% 24.4% 44.2% 2.3%
Grapes 4.6% 12.6% 31.0% 50.6% 1.1%
Bananas 3.4% 9.2% 26.4% 59.8% 1.1%
Apples 1.1% 9.2% 29.9% 58.6% 1.1%
Intensity Measure
We define the intensity of local food consumption for each respondent as follows:
Pij
I ij = f ( Pij , C ij , Dij ) =
C ij * Dij
where Iij is calculated intensity measure of respondent i for product category j, Cij is the reported cost of
local compared to non-local product category j by respondent i, Dij is the reported difficulty, and Pij is the
percent of reported purchases. Both Pij, Cij, and Dij are discrete categorical variables defined as:
sources. Holding all else constant, a higher percentage of local purchases (numerator) will increase the
intensity score; an increase in difficulty or cost (denominator) will also increase the intensity score.
For example, a respondent who indicates that they purchase >50% of their carrots from local sources
(numerator = 4), when they rated carrots as “Much more difficult” to find and “Much more costly”
(denominator = 1) would have a score of 4. A respondent who indicates that they purchase no local carrots
(numerator = 1), while carrots are “Just as easy to find” and cost “Same price or less” (denominator = 4)
would have a score of 0.25. This is a crude measure of consumers’ intensity, but one which conveys the
necessary information. By comparing the scores, it can be said that the former consumer is a more intense
Intensity scores fell between 0.25 and 2.83. We calculated an average intensity score for each
9 ⎛P ⎞
∑ log ⎜⎜ ij ⎟
⎟
Cij *Dij
respondent across all nine categories: Avg I i = exp
j =1 ⎝ ⎠
. See Figure 9 below. The mean of the
3.00
2.75
2.50
2.25
2.00
Intensity Score
1.75
Minimum
1.50 Mean
Maximum
1.25
1.00
0.75
0.50
0.25
0.00
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We found that 12.7% of respondent were relatively intense purchasers of local food (log score > 0).
Demographic Characteristics
Lastly, we asked demographic questions to observe the respondents (1) gender; (2) age; (3) highest
completed educational degree; (4) number of children under the age of 12; (5) ethnicity; (6) annual income;
and (7) involvement in environmental, agricultural or civic groups or clubs. The results are reported in
Table 7 below. The respondent pool was dominated by females (60.4%); younger adults – under 25
(55.1%), 26 – 35 (19.1%); those with a high school diploma (24.7%) or a bachelor’s degree (31.5%); those
with no children under 12 (84.4%), whites (80%), those with incomes < 20,000 (41.9%), and those not
participating in environmental, agricultural, or civic groups or clubs (66.6%). This profile of respondents is
not representative of the 2000 Florida Census, but may be representative of Gainesville, Florida, which is
home to the University of Florida. We must be cautious about making generalizations about local food
demands based on this sample, but the results are useful for informing future research on local foods.
Male 39.6%
Female 60.4%
Regression Models
We defined a conceptual model of the impact of attitudinal, behavioral, and demographic variables
on willingness-to-pay for local foods. After eliminating observations with omissions, we were left with n =
74 useable observations. To gain degrees of freedom, we eliminated some variables from the model. Our
first model is a function of respondents’: (1) definition of “local” with respect to distance (Mi) and
ownership (Ow); (2) frequency and source of fruits and vegetables, including large chain stores (LC),
farmers’ markets (FM) and “other” (OT), which respondents defined as gardens; (3) attitudinal Likert scale
(LkS); (4) log of the intensity score (Log); and (5) demographic variables, including gender (Gen), age
(Age), education (Ed), number of children under 12 in the home (Ch), ethnicity (Et) and whether they
2 2
Model 1. WTPi = α + ∑ β a Miia + χOwi + ∑ δ b LC ib + φFM i + ϕLks i + ηOTi + κLog i + λAgei + μGeni +
a =1 b =1
4 2 2
νChi + ∑ π c Edu ic + ∑ θ d Ethid + ∑τ e Incie +ψGri + ε .
c =1 d =1 e =1
Parameter estimates, goodness of fit and statistical significance were calculated in Limdep 8.0 and reported
Model 1 did not perform very well, which was probably due to the very small sample size. It had an
R-square of 0.45, a significance of F of 0.0129, a Log likelihood value of -50.61, and an Akaike Information
Criterion score of -0.90. Only three of the variables had parameters significant at the 0.05 or 0.10 level of
significant. These were gender (p = .038), “other” [get fruits and vegetables from a garden] (p=.017) and
income between $30,000 and $45,000 (p = .062). See Table 8 below for full parameter estimate results.
Model 2 included one variable of particular interest – log intensity score – and the two most
significant variables from Model 1 – gender and “other.” This model performed better than Model 1 on all
accounts. Model 2 had an R-square of .55, a significance of F of 0.0000, a Log likelihood of -59.27, and an
AIC of -1.12. See Table 9 below for full parameter estimate results. All three variables in Model 2
respondent relied on a garden for some of their fruits and vegetables. These respondents were willing to pay
$0.65 more, on average, for local produce as compared to respondents who did not engage in gardening.
Engaging in gardening shows a high level of commitment to natural, organic, or local foods. Likewise,
respondents with higher intensity scores had higher willingness-to-pay for local food. Lastly, females (Gen
= 0) were willing to spend $0.49 more for local food than males. Other models are being investigated and
Conclusion
As the ‘green’ market goes mainstream, it is having a heavy impact on corporate behavior,
marketing messages and food sales. New products that dilute the meaning of ‘organic’ are marketed,
causing some consumers to seek local, non-corporate alternatives. The results of this preliminary survey
provide some insight for survey design and research on local foods, and help illustrate the complex forces
driving local food purchases. The findings from this project are important to the discourse on consumer
behavior, particularly in the context of increasingly ideological and experiential purchases, shopping
motivations for going to farmers markets, the high willingness to pay for local food, barriers to making
actual purchases, and key demographic factors, including young children in the home and low income.
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