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The proposed research is designed to improve our understanding of the effects of culture, consumer psychology, and consumer attitudes and preferences on Florida agriculture through the analysis of consumer attitudes, preferences, networks, and culture. <P> This information will be used to: <OL> <LI> analyze consumer attitudes towards characteristics of Florida agricultural products<LI> examine potential for growth of Florida agriculture due to changes in tastes and preferences<LI> examine the affect of health and nutrition perceptions and knowledge on Florida agriculture<LI> examine the impact of social networks on demand for agricultural products<LI> develop an understanding of consumers for marketing and management purposes<LI> to evaluate the impacts of potential and existing government food and nutrition policy. </ol> Expected outputs include journal articles and extension publications that will be useful to the academic profession and to producers and agribusinesses.
NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Many factors impact a person's food choice, from income level to location of residence, from health knowledge to cultural background, and the list goes on (Cosper and Wakefield, 1975). Understanding more about the factors that influence consumers= subjective perceptions about food consumption will allow agribusinesses and agricultural producers to respond more effectively to consumer concerns. Changing tastes and preferences of consumers, coupled with changes in the way food is produced and processed (i.e. biotechnology and irradiation) create a dynamic, ever changing environment. Evaluating the characteristics of consumer attitudes and preferences will help producers and agribusinesses, as well as policy makers, respond to changes in the market. Issues such as the impact of culture on food consumption can not be understated, yet it is rarely considered in agricultural economics and agribusiness literature. Additionally, an understanding of the affect of health and nutrition issues on consumer demand is of utmost importance to food processors and producers. Food safety and nutrition is a concern for consumers, food processors, and food system regulators because of the impact of the health of the population and multiple health risks from food contaminants. The impact of obesity on health and insurance and medical costs has been well documented, as has the trend to increasing rates of overweight and obesity in both children and adults. Information will be collected through a variety of methods, including, but not limited to surveys, focus groups, and experimental auctions. Data will be analyzed using econometrics to generate a better understanding of consumer demand for food products.<P>
APPROACH: The primary purpose of this work is to gather information needed to understand the dynamic nature of consumer attitudes and preferences. These objectives will likely involve consumer focus groups, surveys, and experimental auctions for data collection. Information collected from consumers, as well as other information that may be collected from producers will be used to address many questions, such as: what drives consumers to make their purchase decisions; what affect does publicity on food issues (i.e. obesity and biotechnology) have on consumption; how do consumers select new food products; and what effect producers and agribusinesses can have on consumer attitudes. Information will be collected through a variety of methods. Contingent valuation surveys are often used to collect information on willingness to pay for products. The specific configuration of surveys will often be developed through exploratory research based focus groups (Dillman; Mitchell and Carson). Focus groups are a reasonably efficient qualitative market research technique in which a group of eight to ten participants of common demographics, attitude or purchase pattern, are led through a discussion of a particular topic within a specified period of time (usually one to two hours) by a skilled moderator. The moderator will be guided by a formal, written moderator guide, which outlines the general path of the discussion. Experimental methods can also be used to determine the value consumers place on these types of products. Experimental methods have advantages over typical survey methods (Fox et al.) when attempting to elicit willingness to pay measures. With experimental methods, as opposed to survey techniques, the incentive structure is designed such that participants will reveal their true valuation of a good (Shogren et al., 1994b). Depending on the data collected, an appropriate econometric modeling technique will be applied to analyze the data and draw conclusions from the research. Often, a Cragg double-hurdle model is used in these types of analyses as this model can address a two-part decision (Haines et al.). Most consumer surveys and experimental auctions will involve questions that examine why a consumer will choose whether or not to purchase a good, as well as if they do purchase the good, what affects the quantity they choose to consume. Because of this dual-level decision, a model such as the Cragg double-hurdle is often the appropriate method for analyzing consumer data. Other data requires use of limited dependant models such as the tobit or probit.