Dawn Thilmany McFadden

Does Local Labeling Complement or Compete with Other Sustainable Labels? A Conjoint Analysis of Direct and Joint Values for Fresh Produce Claim

As a way to explore the increasing use of sustainability labels in the marketplace, this study analyzes the differential values and interactive effects of sustainable production claims (organic, fair trade, and carbon footprint) and location claims through a conjoint choice experiment included in a 2008 U.S. survey. Locally grown is the highest valued claim, and its value is further enhanced with fair trade certification, but carbon-intensive local products are discounted more severely than those sourced from other locations. Some negatively valued claims (imports and carbon footprint) can be mitigated by combining them with other claims (organic and fair trade). Copyright 2011, Oxford University Press.

Consumer Motivations and Buying Behavior: The Case of the Local Food System Movement

The significant attention and growth surrounding sustainable foods has created a demand for research investigating different factors that can aid in predicting and explaining consumer behavior. This article utilized an attitude-behavior framework, the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), to identify factors that might influence consumer valuation of organic, fair trade, and local labeled food. Approximately 1,000 consumers from a 2008 nationwide survey were used in data analyses. Some TPB determinants proved successful in understanding consumer motivations (behavioral control, social norms). These results can be used by a wide variety of food marketers to connect with consumers to promote effective marketing strategies of sustainable food products

Analyzing the Role of Community and Individual Factors in Food Insecurity: Identifying Diverse Barriers Across Clustered Community Members.

This paper uses the results from a community food security assessment survey of 684 residents and three focus groups in Pueblo County, Colorado to examine the question: what community and individual factors contribute to or alleviate food insecurity, and are these factors consistent throughout a sub-county population. Importantly, we use a technique called cluster analysis to endogenously determine the key factors pertinent to food access and fruit and vegetable consumption. Our results show significant heterogeneity among sub-population clusters in terms of the community and individual factors that would make it easier to get access to fruits and vegetables. We find two distinct clusters of food insecure populations: the first was significantly less likely to identify increased access to fruits and vegetables proximate to where they live or work as a way to improve their household’s healthy food consumption despite being significantly less likely to utilize a personal vehicle to get to the store; the second group did not report significant challenges with access, rather with affordability. We conclude that though interventions focused on improving the local food retail environment may be important for some subsamples of the food insecure population, it is unclear that proximity to a store with healthy food will support enhanced food security for all. We recommend that future research recognizes that determinants of food insecurity may vary within county or zip code level regions, and that multiple interventions that target sub-population clusters may elicit better improvements in access to and consumption of fruits and vegetables.

Local Food, Organics, and Sustainability

There are a diverse set of factors driving new markets, programs, and brands for organic, local, and other sustainable foods. Certain groups of agricultural producers and the food industry are increasingly sharing information about production practices and the source of foods to differentiate products, segment consumer demand, and gain a competitive advantage. Marketing efforts are increasingly focused on the promotion of food attributes so that producer–consumer interaction in direct markets and food labels in more conventional food retail venues are increasingly important to market performance. By exploring the potential efficiency trade-offs of food systems that constrain production and distribution choices against models that may provide environmental, social, or other community benefits, this chapter provides an important synopsis of key criteria for policy discussions. An overview of the marketing programs that may play a role in shaping sustainable food system supply chain approaches concludes the chapter.

The Financial Performance Implications of Differential Marketing Strategies: Exploring Farms that Pursue Local Markets as a Core Competitive Advantage

This study explores how participation in direct and intermediated marketing channels and key operational factors influence agricultural producers’ financial performance. Accordingly, we divide the sample of local and regional food marketers into quartiles segmented by profitability performance as an initial exploration of how strong and weak performance may vary across scale, location, and choice of direct and intermediated channels. Moreover, other financial metrics that vary across types of producers and performance-based quartiles are analyzed. This paper provides initial evidence that participation in direct and intermediated markets may allow farms of any scale of sales volume to be financially viable.

Exploring Localized Economic Dynamics: Methods-Driven Case Studies of Transformation and Growth in Agricultural and Food Markets

Quantifying the economic impacts and contributions of local and regional food systems and events in these systems has become increasingly common as both public and private entities attempt to justify a commonly held belief that more localized systems lead to positive economic gains in the communities in which they operate. However, many studies are not careful to consider the opportunity costs, complexity of economic linkages, or other subtle dimensions of how regional economies may change in dynamic settings. In this study, the authors use three case studies to explore the important criteria that should be considered when modeling impacts and contributions of activities and events that can be characterized by a variety of supply shocks or customization to account for relocalized linkages in the supply chain.