Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-f46jp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-22T08:54:32.528Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Local versus organic: A turn in consumer preferences and willingness-to-pay

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 April 2010

Damian C. Adams  and
Matthew J. Salois
Damian C. Adams*
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics, 316 Ag Hall, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK74078, USA.
Matthew J. Salois
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural and Food Economics, University of Reading, ReadingRG6 6AR, UK.
*
*Corresponding author: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Demand for local food in the US has significantly increased over the past decade. In an attempt to understand the drivers of this demand and how they have changed over time, we investigate the literature on organic and local foods over the past few decades. We focus our review on studies that allow comparison of characteristics now associated with both local and organic food. We summarize the major findings of these studies and their implications for understanding drivers of local food demand. Prior to the late 1990s, most studies failed to consider factors now associated with local food, and the few that included these factors found very little support for them. In many cases, the lines between local and organic were blurred. Coincident with the development of federal organic food standards, studies began to find comparatively more support for local food as distinct and separate from organic food. Our review uncovers a distinct turn in the demand for local and organic food. Before the federal organic standards, organic food was linked to small farms, animal welfare, deep sustainability, community support and many other factors that are not associated with most organic foods today. Based on our review, we argue that demand for local food arose largely in response to corporate co-optation of the organic food market and the arrival of ‘organic lite’. This important shift in consumer preferences away from organic and toward local food has broad implications for the environment and society. If these patterns of consumer preferences prove to be sustainable, producers, activists and others should be aware of the implications that these trends have for the food system at large.

Keywords

local foodpreferenceswillingness to payorganic lite
Type
Review Article
Information
Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems , Volume 25 , Issue 4 , December 2010 , pp. 331 - 341
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1Pollan, M. 2006. The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. Penguin, New York, NY.Google Scholar
2Kingsolver, B., Hopp, S.L., and Kingsolver, C. 2007. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: Our Year of Seasonal Eating. HarperCollins, New York, NY.Google Scholar
3Thilmany, D., Bond, C.A., and Bond, J.K. 2008. Going local: exploring consumer behavior and motivations for direct food purchases. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 90(5):1303–1309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4USDA-AMS. 2008a. Number of farmers markets continues to rise in U.S. Available at Web site http://www.ams.usda.gov/ (verified May 12, 2009).Google Scholar
5Crossroads Resource Center. 2009. Direct farm sales rising dramatically, New Agriculture Census Data Show. Press Release, 2 February. Available at Web site http://www.crcworks.org/ (verified May 12, 2009).Google Scholar
6LocalHarvest. 2009. Community supported agriculture. Available at Web site http://localharvest.org/csa/ (verified August 14, 2009).Google Scholar
7Brown, C. and Miller, S. 2008. The impacts of local markets: a review of research on farmers markets and community supported agriculture (CSA). American Journal of Agricultural Economics 90(5):1296–1302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8Tropp, D. 2008b. Emerging opportunities for local food in U.S. consumer markets. USDA-AMS. Available at Web site http://www.ams.usda.gov/ (verified May 12, 2009).Google Scholar
9Tropp, D. 2008a. The growing role of local food markets: discussion. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 90(5):1310–1311.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10Guptill, A. and Wilkins, J.L. 2002. Buying into the food system: trends in food retailing in the US and implications for local foods. Agriculture and Human Values 19:39–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11Adams, D.C. and Adams, A.E. 2009. De-placing local: consumers' attitudes, experiences, and impressions of local foods. Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
12USDA-AMS. 2008b. Value through verification: USDA National Organic Program. Available at Web site http://www.ams.usda.gov/ (verified May 12, 2009).Google Scholar
13Guthman, J. 2004b. Back to the land: the paradox of organic food standards. Environment and Planning A 36:511–528.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14Buck, D., Getz, C., and Guthman, J. 1997. From farm to table: the organic vegetable commodity chain in northern California. Sociologia Ruralis 37(1):3–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15Organic Trade Association. 2007. Manufacturer survey: Executive summary. Available at Web site http://www.ota.com (verified May 12, 2009).Google Scholar
16Tovey, H. 1997. Food, environmentalism and rural sociology: on the organic farming movement in Ireland. Sociologia Ruralis 37(1):21–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17Hart, J. 2006. Beyond organic. Utne Reader 133:70–71.Google Scholar
18Hightower, J. 2003. Voices. Earth Island Journal 18(3):48.Google Scholar
19Guthman, J. 2004a. The trouble with ‘organic lite’ in California: a rejoinder to the ‘conventionalisation’ debate. Sociologia Ruralis 44(3):301–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20Constance, D.H., Choi, J.Y., and Lyke-Ho-Gland, H. 2008. Certified and non-certified organic farmers in Texas. Southern Rural Sociology 23(1):208–234.Google Scholar
21Sligh, M. and Christman, C. 2003. Who Owns Organic? The Global Status, Prospects and Challenges of a Changing Organic Market. Rural Advancement Foundation International USA, Pittsboro, NC. Available at Web site http://www.rafiusa.org/pubs/OrganicReport.pdf (verified December 10, 2008).Google Scholar
22Howard, P.H. and Allen, P. 2006. Beyond organic: consumer interest in new labeling schemes in the central coast of California. International Journal of Consumer Studies 30:439–451.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
23Guthman, J. 2003. Fast food/organic food: reflexive tastes and the making of ‘yuppie chow’. Social and Cultural Geography 4(1):45–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
24Feenstra, G.W. 1997. Local food systems and sustainable communities. American Journal of Alternative Agriculture 12:28–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
25Hightower, J. 1973. Hard Tomatoes, Hard Times. Schenkman, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
26Hightower, J. 1975. Eat Your Heart Out: Food Profiteering in America. Crown Publishers, New York, NY.Google Scholar
27Berry, W. 1977. The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture. Avon, New York, NY.Google Scholar
28Gussow, J. 1978. The Feeding Web: Issues in Nutritional Ecology. Bull Publications, Palo Alto, CA.Google Scholar
29Gussow, J. 2001. This Organic Life: Confessions of a Suburban Homesteader. Chelsea Green Publishing Company, White River Junction, VT.Google Scholar
30Kneen, B. 1993. From Land to Mouth: Understanding the Food System. NC Press Ltd, Toronto.Google Scholar
31Allen, P. and Sachs, C. 1991. What do we want to sustain? Developing a comprehensive vision of sustainable agriculture. Issue Paper 2. The Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, University of California, Santa Cruz.Google Scholar
32USDA-ERS. 2009. Table 2, U.S. certified organic farmland acreage, livestock numbers, and farm operations. Available at Web site http://www.ers.usda.gov/Data/Organic (verified September 25, 2009).Google Scholar
33Congressional Research Service. 2008. Organic agriculture in the United States: Program and policy issues. Available at Web site http://www.fas.org/ (verified May 12, 2009).Google Scholar
34Morgan, K., Marsden, T., and Murdoch, J. 2006. California: the parallel worlds of rival agri-food paradigms. In Morgan, K., Marsden, T., and Murdoch, J. (eds). Worlds of Food: Place, Power, and Provenance in the Food Chain. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. p. 109–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
35Delind, L.B. 2000. Transforming organic agriculture into industrial organic products: Reconsidering the national organic standards. Human Organization 59(2):198–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
36Clunies-Ross, T. and Cox, G. 1994. Challenging the productivist paradigm: organic farming and the politics of agricultural change. In Lowe, P., Marsden, T., and Whatmore, S. (eds). Regulating Agriculture. David Fulton Publishers, London, UK. p. 53–74.Google Scholar
37Smith, E. and Marsden, T. 2004. Exploring the ‘limits to growth’ in UK organics: beyond the statistical image. Journal of Rural Studies 20:345–357.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
38Lockie, S., Lyons, K., and Lawrence, G. 2000. Constructing ‘green’ foods: corporate capital, risk and organic farming in Australia and New Zealand. Agriculture and Human Values 17:315–322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
39Lockie, S. and Halpin, D. 2005. The ‘conventionalization’ thesis reconsidered: structural and ideological transformation of Australian organic agriculture. Sociologia Ruralis 45(4):284–307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
40Iles, A. 2005. Learning in sustainable agriculture: food miles and missing objects. Environmental Values 14(2):163–183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
41Hamer, E. 2008. Corporate organics. The Ecologist 37(10):39–42.Google Scholar
42Buttel, F.H. 1992. Environmentalization: origins, processes, and implications for rural social change. Sociologia Ruralis 57(1):1–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
43Kloppenburg, J., Hendrickson, J., and Stevenson, G.W. 1996. Coming in to the foodshed. In Vitek, W. and Jackson, W. (eds). Rooted in the Land: Essays on Community and Place. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT. p. 113–123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
44Lyson, T. and Guptill, A. 2004. Commodity agriculture, civic agriculture and the future of U.S. farming. Sociologia Ruralis 69(3):370–385.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
45Krystallis, A. and Chryssohoidis, G. 2005. Consumers' willingness to pay for organic food: factors that affect it and variation per organic product type. British Food Journal 107(4/5):320–343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
46Thompson, G.S. 1998. Consumer demand for organic foods: what we know and what we need to know. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 80:1113–1118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
47Tregear, A., Dent, J.B., and McGregor, M.J. 1994. The demand for organically-grown produce. British Food Journal 96(4):21–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
48Browne, A.W., Harris, P.J.C., Hofny-Collins, A.H., Pasiecznic, N., and Wallace, R.R. 2000. Organic production and ethical trade: definition, practice and links. Food Policy 25(1):69–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
49Hawkes, G.R. and Stiles, M.C. 1986. Attitudes about pesticide safety. California Agriculture 40:19–22.Google Scholar
50Sachs, C., Blair, D., and Richter, C. 1987. Consumer pesticide concerns: a 1965 and 1984 comparison. Journal of Consumer Affairs 21(1):96–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
51Goldman, B. and Clancy, K. 1991. A survey of organic produce purchases and related attitudes of food cooperative shoppers. American Journal of Alternative Agriculture 6(2):89–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
52Sparling, E., Wilken, K., and McKenzie, J. 1992. Marketing fresh organic produce in Colorado supermarkets. Final Report to the Colorado Department of Agriculture and USDA Federal State Marketing Improvement Program. Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Colorado State University, Fort Collins.Google Scholar
53Govindasamy, R., Italia, J., and Liptak, C. 1997. Quality of agricultural produce: Consumer preferences and perceptions. P-02137-1-97. New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, Rutgers University, New Brunswick.Google Scholar
54Kezis, A.S., King, F.R., Toensmeyer, U., Jack, R., and Kerr, H. 1984. Consumer acceptance and preference for direct marketing in the northeast. Journal of Food Distribution Research 15(3):38–46.Google Scholar
55Lockeretz, W. 1986. Urban consumers' attitudes towards locally grown produce. American Journal of Alternative Agriculture 1:83–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
56Eastwood, D.B., Brooker, J.R., and Orr, R.H. 1987. Consumer preferences for local versus out-of-state grown selected fresh produce: the case of Knoxville, Tennessee. Southern Journal of Agricultural Economics 19:193–194.Google Scholar
57Bruhn, C.M., Vossen, P.M., Chapman, E., and Vaupel, S. 1992. Consumer attitudes toward locally grown produce. California Agriculture 46(4):13–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
58Underhill, S.E. and Figueroa, E.E. 1996. Consumer preferences for non-conventionally grown produce. Journal of Food Distribution Research 27:56–66.Google Scholar
59Gallons, J., Toensmeyer, U.C., Bacon, J.R., and German, C.L. 1997. An analysis of consumer characteristics concerning direct marketing of fresh produce in Delaware: a case study. Journal of Food Distribution Research 28(1):98–106.Google Scholar
60Zumwalt, B. 2001. Attracting consumers with locally grown products. Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Food Processing Center. Available at Web site http://www.foodmap.unl.edu (verified May 8, 2008).Google Scholar
61Wolf, M.M. 1997. A target consumer profile and positioning for promotion of the direct marketing of fresh produce: a case study. Journal of Food Distribution Research 28:11–17.Google Scholar
62Wolf, M.M., Spittler, A., and Ahern, J. 2005. A profile of farmers' market consumers and the perceived advantages of produce sold at farmers' markets. Journal of Food Distribution Research 36(1):192–201.Google Scholar
63Kezis, A., Gwebu, T., Peavey, S., and Cheng, H. 1998. A study of consumers at a small farmers' market in Maine: results from a 1995 survey. Journal of Food Distribution Research 29:91–98.Google Scholar
64Ross, N.J., Anderson, M.D., Goldberg, J.P., Houser, R., and Rogers, B.L. 1999. Trying and buying locally grown produce at the workplace: results of a marketing intervention. American Journal of Alternative Agriculture 14:171–179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
65Jekanowski, M.D., Williams, D.R., and Schiek, W.A. 2000. Consumers' willingness to purchase locally produced agricultural products: an analysis of an Indiana survey. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review 29(8):43–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
66Loureiro, M.L. and Hine, S. 2002. Discovering niche markets: a comparison of consumer willingness to pay for local (Colorado grown), organic, and GMO-free products. Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics 34(3):477–487.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
67Brown, C. 2003. Consumers' preferences for locally produced food: a study in southeast Missouri. American Journal of Alternative Agriculture 18:213–224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
68Schneider, M.L. and Francis, C.A. 2005. Marketing locally produced foods: consumer and farmer opinions in Washington County, Nebraska. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 20(4):252–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
69Darby, K., Batte, M.T., Ernst, S., and Roe, B. 2008. Decomposing local: a conjoint analysis of locally produced foods. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 90(2):476–486.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
70Toler, S., Briggeman, B.C., Lusk, J.L., and Adams, D.C. 2009. Fairness, farmers markets, and local production. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 91(5):1272–1278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
71Zepeda, L. and Leviten-Reid, C. 2004. Consumers' views on local food. Journal of Food Distribution Research 35(3):1–5.Google Scholar
72Hartman Group. 2008. Consumer understanding of buying local. Harbeat 27. Available at Web site http://www.hartman-group.com/hartbeat/2008-02-27 (verified December 9, 2008).Google Scholar
73Giovannucci, D., Barham, E., and Pirog, R. 2010. Defining and marketing ‘local’ foods: Geographical indications for US products. Journal of World Intellectual Property 13(2):94–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
74Ikerd, J. 2008. Reclaiming the heart and soul of organics. Presented at The Organic Summit, Boulder, CO, 25–27 June.Google Scholar
75Dimitri, C., Tegene, A., and Kaufman, P. 2003. U.S. fresh produce markets: Marketing channels, trade practices, and retail pricing behavior. Agricultural Economic Report No. 825. USDA-ERS. Available at Web site http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/aer825/ (verified September 20, 2009).Google Scholar
76Cloud, J. 2007. Forget organic: Eat local. Time, 12 March, p. 45–51.Google Scholar
77Thomson, J.S., and Kelvin, R.E. 1996. Suburbanites' perceptions about agriculture. The challenge for media. Journal of Applied Communications 80(3):10–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
78Nichol, L. 2003. Local food production: Some implications for planning. Planning Theory and Practice 4(4):409–427.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
79Severson, K. 2009. When ‘local’ makes it big. The New York Times, 13 May. Available at Web site http://www.nytimes.com (verified May 14, 2009).Google Scholar
80Horovitz, B. 2009. Frito-Lay pitches its Lay's Potato Chips as locally made. USA Today, 12 May.Google Scholar
81Gambrell, J. 2008. Wal-Mart stores stocking more locally grown produce: It's a way to cut transport costs and reassure customers. The San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 July.Google Scholar
82Norton, F. 2008. Wal-Mart Expo ‘A lot like dating’: World's top retailer dangles a chance for local food vendors to sell to its stores. The News and Observer, 17 April.Google Scholar
83Bodini, A. and Naspetti, S. 2008. Consumer perception of local and organic products: substitution or complementary goods? International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences 3(2):111–122.Google Scholar
84Hughner, R.S., McDonagh, P., Prothero, A., Schultz, C.J., and Stanton, J. 2007. Who are organic food consumers? A compilation and review of why people purchase organic food. Journal of Consumer Behaviour 6:1–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
85Whole Foods. 2009. Locally grown: The whole foods market promise. Available at Web sitehttp://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/products/locally-grown/ (verified September 20, 2009).Google Scholar