Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is one of the widely used direct marketing strategies for small- and midsized farmers. CSA programs are an important option for sustainable production and consumption. It helps growers generate income (improve financial security) and consumers obtain fresh local foods. Sustaining and growing CSA participation is critical in order to continue enjoying these benefits. We used a national online survey in conjunction with discrete choice models to investigate the impact of demographic characteristics, lifestyle preferences, and different information outlets on the probability that a consumer is or will become a CSA member. The results indicate that the factors affecting current and future CSA participation differ substantially. While none of the demographic characteristics has a significant impact on current CSA participation, some of them significantly affect the probability that a consumer will become a CSA member in the future. Lifestyle preferences have a significant impact on current and future CSA participation. Although none of the information outlets examined affect current CSA participation, word-of-mouth and online sources significantly influence the probability that a consumer will join a CSA program in the future. These findings may have important implications for policy makers’ and CSA farm managers’ efforts to sustain future CSA development.

JAFSCD: Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development. Publication of the Thomas A. Lyson Center for Civic Agriculture and Food Systems

Despite the growing interest of producers and consumers toward grass-fed, local, and organic beef, the supply chain for these products to reach consumers is not always clear-cut. Among the available options are direct-to-consumers and the conventional food supply chain. Although consumers may pay a premium for beef differentiated by quality attributes, the willingness to pay (WTP) difference across point-of-sales is unclear. In this study, we contrast the WTPs for conventional, grass-fed, local, and organic beef by brick-and-mortar supermarkets (B&Ms), farmers’ markets, and via online stores. We conduct a choice experiment with a nationwide online sample of American consumers. The findings indicate that compared to B&Ms, more consumers are reluctant to purchase beef from farmers’ markets and online outlets. Moreover, the WTP for quality-differentiated attributes varies significantly by the point-of-sales. For most consumers, the downside of online or farmers’ markets outweighs the upside of the quality-differentiated attributes sold in those venues.

South Carolina livestock producers are expanding their operations to include local meat sales, with a sizeable number of farmers entering the market for the first time. Little is known about South Caro­lina’s local meat consumers and their buying pref­er­ences. This study aims to identify the demo­graphic traits of local meat consumers, their pre­ferred local meat product attributes, their desired purchasing locations, and a range of prices con­sumers are willing to pay for local meat. This study surveyed 1,048 South Carolina meat consumers. Of these survey respondents, 741 had consumed local meat products within the last 12 months and 307 had not. Results indicate that local meat consumers tend to be younger, reside in larger households, have higher household incomes, and have greater educational attainment. They also may be more likely to be long-term residents of South Carolina. These consumers are willing to pay a 1% to 24% premium for local meats to be eaten at home and US$1.00 to US$1.99 more per entrée for local meats at a restaurant. The most desirable attributes of local meat are hormone-free, all-natural, no anti­biotics, and grass-fed. The most popular buying locations are the grocery store, directly from farms, farmers markets, butcher shops, and online order­ing. Most consumers are unwilling to drive more than 20 miles (32 km) to purchase local meat. The study also uncovered barriers to consumers’ will­ingness to purchase (or purchase more) local meats: product unavailability, high prices, food safety concerns, convenience, and ease of prepara­tion.

Consistent with preferences for other food products, consumers increasingly care about a range of search and credence seafood characteristics such as: environmental effects and product form. This study utilized a dataset obtained from an online survey, and a Multivariate Ordered Probit formulation to examine the impact of: demographic characteristics, lifestyle preferences, and seafood consumption frequency on preferences for selected seafood attributes. The findings indicate that the factors influencing consumer preferences differ across the attributes examined. Although some demographic variables have a statistically significant effect on consumers’ preferences for seafood attributes other than price, their predictive power was limited regarding preferences for wild-caught, fresh seafood and the impact of sustainability on purchasing decisions. Furthermore, consumers who utilize direct marketing outlets have stronger preferences towards fresh and wild-caught seafood products.