Assessing the Consumer Behavior, Market Coordination and Performance of the Consumer-oriented Fruit and Vegetable Sector

<p>NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: <br/>In recent years, greater concerns with respect to diet and nutrition have led to an increased number of marketing and promotional messages focused on the benefits of eating fresh fruit and vegetables. Both consumers and retailers have responded to the spotlight on fresh produce, resulting in increased purchases, marketing resources and even new legislation to promote Specialty Crop production in the US. Consumers and households are also fueling changes in the food system as they seek to purchase their produce through channels as diverse as direct marketing and traditional supermarkets, and with expectations as broad as picking their own produce to highly branded products with 3rd party certifications. Still, little is known about the response of increasingly demanding consumers and food supply chain partners, the changing coordination and supply
chain responses of fruit and vegetable enterprises or the response to regulations and policies developed to oversee and guide new innovations in this sector. Our intended outcomes and impacts are to inform policymakers on the market performance of fresh produce enterprises under new policies and marketing strategies, and guide industry stakeholders in their long-term planning on consumer behaviors and demand changes.
<p>APPROACH: <br/>We will extend past research and work cooperatively with other states on models, surveying and experimental approaches to improve the validity of market valuation estimates on a variety of produce claims (production origin, organic, nutrient claims, other production protocols). As the methods used evolve (as discussed below), the group will collaborate on marketing studies, identified by industry and NGO groups as high priority, to evaluate consumer behavior. Specifically, we will focus on the emerging local market designations and integrate them into consumer demand and valuation analyses using techniques that incorporate product characteristics and locale. To assess the effectiveness of marketing programs, we plan to examine the impacts of various governmental health, local food and marketing order initiatives, sharing expertise on research design, and
coordinating in at least one case where a similar marketing platform has been adopted by other states (MarketMaker). In addition, we will use estimates from past and on-going market studies to evaluate expected impacts of various policies that form, change and evolve in produce markets, including, but not limited to Country of origin labeling, food safety and nutritional claims.
<p>PROGRESS: 2012/01 TO 2012/12 <p>OUTPUTS: <br/>The U.S. food consumption patterns including fruits and vegetables have changed substantially over time because of changes in population composition, consumer preference, personal income and education level, social structures, government intervention, and health and diet concerns. Hence, it is very important to understand the interrelationships between fruits and vegetables and other food commodities. A better understanding and knowledge of the demand structure and its associated effects of prices and income changes on the quantity demanded is useful for forecasting future demands and in appraising the likely outcome of potential changes in national food programs. We develop a complete demand system that includes 6 broad food groups and 1 nonfood group. The food groups are: (1) meats, (2) staples, (3) fresh fruits, (4) fresh
vegetables, (5) processed fruits and vegetables, and (6) desserts. The complete system consisting of 37 individual food items plus one nonfood group was estimated based on the data that cover the period from 1953 through 2008. The empirical estimation was implemented in sequential steps using the iterative seemingly unrelated regression procedure. The study yields a total of 1,482 estimated demand elasticities to update previously reported elasticities based on more recent time series data. <p>PARTICIPANTS: <br/>Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. TARGET AUDIENCES: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
<p>PROGRESS: 2011/01/01 TO 2011/12/31 <p>OUTPUTS: <br/>The demand and consumption of fruits and vegetables in the United States have grown significantly in recent years due to increasing concerns about health and dietary quality of Americans. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has been promoting and recommending increased consumption of fresh produce consistently through its publication of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Since the 1990s, a growing body of research has focused on the degree to which the production and supply of produce needs to be increased to meet the daily intake level recommended by the Guidelines. However, research on the demand for various forms of fruit products has been relatively unexplored. Knowledge of price and income elasticities for different form of fruit products is important for farmers, marketers, and retailers in terms of adopting
production and marketing schemes that optimize the use of farmland and shelf space. Thus, a study was conducted to estimate a demand system of fruit products and to analyze the demand interrelationships among various product forms. PARTICIPANTS: Not relevant to this project. TARGET AUDIENCES: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.