Heterogeneity in urban consumer preferences for turfgrass attributes

Abstract

Abstract Managing lawns in urban landscapes has become a contentious issue in public policy due to conflicts over water consumption and the potential for runoff of fertilizer, pesticides, and herbicides into water bodies. Maintaining an attractive residential lawn entails choosing a turfgrass variety that can minimize challenges associated with water requirements, salinity, shade, winter stress, and high maintenance costs. Turf producers and breeders attempt to produce new and improved turf cultivars, but they are largely unaware of the consumers’ preferences for specific turfgrass attributes. This study illustrates the use of discrete-choice analysis, a stated preference marketing valuation technique in estimating consumers’ preferences and willingness to pay for turfgrass attributes. Results of a survey of 1,179 household consumers indicate that preferences for stress tolerant turfgrass cultivars are highly heterogeneous. A latent class model shows that household turf consumers are clustered in two broad classes; “Willing Hobby Gardeners” and “Reluctant Mature Homeowners”. Willing hobby gardeners are characterized as hobbyists and more willing adopters of improved turfgrass cultivars, while reluctant mature homeowners are characterized by mature (more than 45 years of age) homeowners and more reluctant adopters of improved turfgrass cultivars that minimize environmental stressors. Results show that Willing Hobby Gardeners are most likely to pay more for improved turfgrass attributes than Reluctant Mature Homeowners. This categorization of consumers may help sod producers, urban planners, and landscape firms in targeting willing gardeners and in strategizing how to reach reluctant homeowners.