How well does the hype machine work?

Understanding consumer preferences and willingness to pay for organically grown and locally grown fresh produce helps producers and retailers determine what type of fresh produce to grow and sell, what to emphasize in marketing efforts, and what prices to charge. Intense competition from large-scale growers has forced small-scale farmers to find new niche markets for their commodities through value-added marketing. But information related to consumer preference and willingness to pay for both organically and locally grown fresh produce is sparse, presenting a fertile field for researchers. . .

Participants were asked "When you buy fruits and vegetables, how often do you buy locally grown (or organically grown) fresh produce when it is available?''. For locally grown produce, 14% of participants chose "always", 40% chose "most times", 38% chose "sometimes", and 8% chose "seldom" or "never". For organic produce, 6% chose "always", 15% chose "most times", 39% chose "sometimes", and 40% chose "seldom" or "never".

Additionally, the team determined that consumers consider ''freshness'' and ''safe to eat'' as ''very important'' attributes when purchasing locally grown produce, and recommended that these attributes be stressed by local growers when promoting their products. Consumers considered ''good for health'' and ''safe to eat'' as their main reasons for purchasing organic produce, implying that these selling points be emphasized in promotional materials.

Yue explained that the study showed consumers' demographics affected their choice between organically grown and locally grown produce. For instance, older consumers were less likely than younger consumers to choose organic tomatoes, while females were more likely than males to purchase locally grown tomatoes.

Stated Yue, "Furthermore, we found that consumers patronized different retail venues to purchase fresh produce with different attributes. The results of this research are very important for small-scale farmers, market organizers, and sponsoring agencies in making their production and marketing decisions."

This is merely hype since the questions are nonsensical. It's a push poll designed to ignore real answers and push respondents into choosing among nonsense alternatives.

It is semi-interesting that local seems to have so much less negatives than organic. Only 8% said that they seldom or never buy locally grown when it is available, but five time as many - 40% - said that they seldom or never choose organic. That's a pretty high negative take on organic. More sand for the gears of the organic hype machine. After all of the screeching and wild eyed claims for organic over the decades this is a particularly sad result for activists.

Local does make more sense: at least for some things in some places in some seasons. And, it resonates with long held strong cultural values, especially in the US which was founded as an agrarian society with a national myth of small holder farming. 40 acres and a mule, every man a land owner living by his toil and wits. It was never actually like that, it's just a national myth, but it still has faint echoes in the smoggy concrete canyons of the metropolis. Local also plays on naive tribalism and the destructive yet attractive politics of protectionism. Buy American. No, better, buy local. Or, at least boycott the enemy, however enemy is currently defined.

I read this a couple of days ago and passed on it. It was another bit of fluff. But I was talking to Al, our local grocer, about walk-in freezers and the subject came up. See, my buddy Jared (see previous posts, the guy with the local grass beef for sale) had been talking to Al about renting space in his store freezer until he gets his own freezer up and running. I can see the logic of it since Al is comparatively nearby, a local, and has freezer tech down cold, so to speak.

But Al was hesitant to tie up so much of his capacity with another fellow's stuff. I replied that he could solve that dilemma by just selling the stuff himself. Looked at that way it's inventory that he doesn't have to pay for and that he charges another fellow to store. Then I revealed to Al that I had a connection to the whole thing since I had raised the beef. I get nothing extra from Jared's efforts. My job was to raise them and the pay is the same if he takes them to the auction barn or direct markets them for much more pay. But I could vouch for the quality of the beef and had testing to prove it. Besides, I had just read research saying that local is almost 3 times as good as organic from a customer perspective.

I saw Al this morning and he said that he did the deal. He wanted to do the local thing too. He may have been born and raised in India, and Al isn't his real name, but he's been here for 30 years, sends his kids to our local schools, and has community spirit as well or better than those who were born here. It warms my cockles that I will soon be able to buy my own home grown beef at our local mountain market. When I tried to get this done almost 20 years ago everyone said that I was crazy. There's truth in that, but the beef is good, and has now become almost fashionable.