Government programs promoting locally produced foods have risen dramatically. But are these programs actually convincing consumers to pay more for locally produced food? Studies to date, which have mostly relied on hypothetical stated preference surveys, suggest that consumers will pay premiums for various local foods and that the premiums vary with the product and presence of any geographic identity. This study reports results from a large field experiment involving 1,050 adult consumers to reveal consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) premiums for “locally produced” foods – mushrooms and oysters. Despite strong statistical power, this study reveals no positive effect of the locally produced label on consumer WTP. These null results are contrary to most of the existing literature on this topic. The finding that consumers are not willing to pay more for local foods has important implications for state and federal agencies that promote labeling campaigns that seek to increase demand and generate premiums for locally produced foods.

State-level reimbursement programs are increasingly being used to incentivize procurement of local foods by US K-12 school food authorities (SFAs), which are schools or school districts that administer a food service program. However, few studies have explored the characteristics of SFAs that are associated with applying for and receiving reimbursement incentives. We consider reimbursement incentive programs in two states, Oregon and Michigan. In 2018–2019, the school year we study, Oregon used an opt-in model in which all SFAs were eligible to receive reimbursement incentives. In contrast, Michigan used a competitive funding model in which only some SFAs were eligible to apply and only some SFAs that applied received support. Using data from the Farm to School Census, as well as data from the two states' Departments of Education, we estimate discrete choice regressions to explore the factors that are associated with SFAs' application for and receipt of these reimbursement incentives. We find that SFAs that opted into Oregon's procurement program are larger, in metropolitan areas, and more likely to purchase fruits and vegetables locally. Thus, the reimbursement incentives are directed toward SFAs with characteristics that complement F2S program development, instead of SFAs with greater structural impediments. In Michigan, we find that SFAs with past F2S experience and community support for F2S were the most likely to apply for reimbursement incentives. However, conditional on applying, the SFAs most likely to receive funding in Michigan were those located in rural areas, more likely to source meat and seafood locally, and more likely to source directly from producers. Thus, Michigan's support, which was more budget constrained, appeared to target SFAs with distance-based challenges and non-traditional procurement strategies.

We use a sales database of farmers market vendors in the Washington, D.C., area to estimate how first half 2020 sales were impacted by the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. We use 2019 data as a counterfactual for sales that would have occurred in 2020 in the absence of COVID-19. For neighborhood weekend markets that were able to remain open during the pandemic, the change in 2020 average sales between the winter and spring is between 75% and 79% lower than in 2019. Other farmers markets, particularly weekday markets in business districts, experienced delayed openings or were closed for the entire year.

Despite a proliferation of articles focused on consumer willingness-to-pay for locally produced foods, few studies have systemically considered the role of food identity in the price premium of local foods. This article uses primary and secondary data to fill that gap. Using data from 9,329 U.S. households, we identify what foods each state considers a part of their collective food identity. We then compare each state's collective food identity to the actual production within the state. Finally, we utilize a discrete choice experiment (N = 484) focused on a state with one such collective food identity to test whether a consumer's preference for local foods is a function of the collective food identity within the state. Results from the open-ended survey suggest that each state connects with their food production in unique ways and that not all state identities are consistent with actual agricultural production. Results from the discrete choice experiment suggest that consumers are more willing to pay a premium for the local food that is a part of their local food identity than for a similar product that is not a part of their local food identity. Our findings imply that future research on consumer preferences for local food systems should consider the relationship between food culture and geography.

A large and growing body of literature has studied consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for local foods in the United States. However, these studies implicitly assume that consumers perceive local foods to have superior quality than nonlocal foods. Little is known about WTP for local foods when taking into account differences in consumer perception of food quality between local and nonlocal foods. In this article, we conduct an economic experiment to assess the effect of locally grown information on consumer WTP and quality perceptions of three broccoli varieties (one commercial variety grown in California and two newly developed local varieties). Our results show that consumers rate both the appearance and the taste of the two local broccoli varieties lower than the California variety when evaluating food quality blindly. However, consumers’ evaluations of the two local varieties improve substantially after being told the two varieties are locally grown. Results also indicate that consumers are willing to pay a price premium for the two local varieties after being told that they are locally grown. Our results provide evidence that locally grown information has a positive effect on both consumer WTP and quality perception of local foods.

Due to strong interest in local foods by US consumers, farmers are now marketing not only to traditional wholesale outlets but also via short supply chains to consumers, grocers, restaurants, schools and other local intermediaries. Our research questions are: (1) what farm and farmer characteristics predict farmers’ participation in various direct marketing channels, and (2) what farm and farmer characteristics predict farmers’ choice of a particular combination of direct marketing channels? This work is important because prior research suggests that while total direct sales via short supply chains continue to grow, direct-to-consumer sales (e.g. via farmers’ markets and Community Support Agriculture, or CSAs) are plateauing. Our work highlights key relationships and implies potential barriers and opportunities for farmers in this maturing local foods landscape. To answer our research questions empirically, we employ the 2015 Local Food Marketing Practices Survey, collected by USDA in 2016, and binomial and multinomial logit regressions. Our research yields a number of useful results. For example, we find evidence suggesting the existence of product-specific barriers to participation in certain channels; livestock producers are less likely than other farmers to sell directly to retailers, whereas vegetable farmers are less likely to sell to intermediaries. We also find that beginning farmers are more likely to sell directly to retailers, but less likely to sell to intermediaries than more established farmers, suggesting potential barriers and opportunities for entry into this channel for less experienced farmers. These insights suggest potential areas of attention for policymakers and other decisionmakers, as well as areas for future study.

In recent years, the growth in local food marketing channels has been significant. Most of the research in this field examining the economic implication of these trends has focused post-farmgate including supply chain analysis (e.g., Hardesty et al., 2014; King et al., 2010), regional economic impacts (e.g., Brown et al., 2014; Hughes et al., 2008; Jablonski et al., 2016) and consumer values and motivations that have driven demand (e.g., Costanigro, 2014; Lusk and Briggeman, 2009). To date, with the exception of a few case studies examining expenses and sales by channel assessment (LeRoux et al., 2010; Hardesty and Leff, 2010; Jablonski and Schmit, 2016) there has been little research that examines the impact on financial viability among farms selling through these markets. The goal of this paper is twofold: first, to identify the factors that have the greatest influence on the efficiency of farmers and ranchers that participate in local food systems, and second, to estimate the relationship between marketing strategy and farm financial efficiency, with a particular focus on variations across farm size. Our estimation of the stochastic production frontier suggests that scale, production enterprise specialty, market outlet choices, land ownership, and management of expenses have the greatest influence on producer financial efficiency. Our model suggests that scale has the largest impact on financial efficiency, providing evidence that, all else constant, the most important factor in the efficiency of direct market producers is scale. When profit is defined as operating profit, results indicate that marketing channel is not an important indicator of efficiency. But when profit is defined as return on assets, marketing channel is an important indicator of efficiency, albeit less than is scale. Results from this analysis indicate there are economies of scale associated with farms and ranches that sell through local and regional markets, and that scale rather than marketing channel has the largest influence on efficiency.

Oyster aquaculture has experienced tremendous growth in the United States over the past decade, but little is known about consumer preferences for oysters. This study analyzed preferences for oysters with varied combinations of brands, production locations, and production methods (aquaculture vs. wild-caught) using dichotomous choice, revealed preference economic field experiments. Results suggest significant and distinct differences in behavior between first-time and regular oyster consumers. While infrequent oyster consumers were drawn to oysters labeled as wild-caught, experienced oyster consumers preferred oysters raised via aquaculture. These findings will be valuable for growers and policymakers who invest in aquaculture to improve surrounding ecosystems.

Fermented beverages hold a long tradition and contribution to the nutrition of many societies and cultures worldwide. Traditional fermentation has been empirically developed in ancient times as a process of raw food preservation and at the same time production of new foods with different sensorial characteristics, such as texture, flavour and aroma, as well as nutritional value. Low-alcoholic fermented beverages (LAFB) and non-alcoholic fermented beverages (NAFB) represent a subgroup of fermented beverages that have received rather little attention by consumers and scientists alike, especially with regard to their types and traditional uses in European societies. A literature review was undertaken and research articles, review papers and textbooks were searched in order to retrieve data regarding the dietary role, nutrient composition, health benefits and other relevant aspects of diverse ethnic LAFB and NAFB consumed by European populations. A variety of traditional LAFB and NAFB consumed in European regions, such as kefir, kvass, kombucha and hardaliye, are presented. Milk-based LAFB and NAFB are also available on the market, often characterised as ‘functional’ foods on the basis of their probiotic culture content. Future research should focus on elucidating the dietary role and nutritional value of traditional and ‘functional’ LAFB and NAFB, their potential health benefits and consumption trends in European countries. Such data will allow for LAFB and NAFB to be included in national food composition tables.

Due to expanding trade and increasing concentration of production during the past few decades, small local farms have faced ever-growing competitive pressures. We investigate the impacts of this globalization on production of local food by examining Hawai‘i's open island economy and econometrically evaluating impacts of import competition on the growth and survival of individual fruit and vegetable farms. We find evidence that rising levels of imports significantly hinder farm growth in Hawai'i and have a smaller impact on farm survival. Increased foreign competition increases the likelihood of exit for commercial farms but has little effect on small noncommercial farms.

We use the underlying data of the IMPLAN Pro 3.0 regional economic simulation model to estimate the current economic contribution of Michigan's local food system and explore the chain of transactions giving rise to consumption of locally sourced goods from producer to processor to consumption. The proposed methodology includes both unprocessed and processed foods in the estimation of the local food system's economic value. The model also provides a replicable and consistent approach to estimating the value of local food systems within regional and state economies.

Given the geography and agroclimatic conditions of the Southeast, coupledwith continued population expansion from in-migration, local foods marketsmay be a promising niche market for some farms in the region. The Southeasthas more small farms than any other U.S. region. Using farm-level data, weaddress the question of how successful southeastern farms engaged in directsales to consumers differ from other farms. We also include a case study ofa marketing association in the panhandle of Florida. In both analyses, wefocus on the role of the supply chain for direct sales in explaining farmreturns.

A qualitative study was conducted with a subset of a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) membership base in Wisconsin, USA to examine attitude and behavior change associated with membership. Changes that were examined included: modified eating or cooking habits, increased consideration of food seasonality and associated consumer preferences for seasonal products, and an enhanced appreciation for farming. Although this study investigated ‘spillover’ attitude or behavior changes (e.g. reduced driving or increased use of environmentally friendly cleaning products), none were observed. This study indicates that attitude and behavior changes are generated by the structural elements of CSA including exposure to the farm, interactions with the farmer, and the constraints imposed by a pre-selected bundle of vegetables. There was no indication that changes occur due to the development and enforcement of social norms within the CSA membership base. Community, in the context of this CSA, is expressed primarily as a conceptual community of interest. Our results suggest that demonstrated attitude and behavior change increases the likelihood that a consumer will renew their CSA membership.