IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ags/jlofdr/46587.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Demand for Organic Food in the U.S.: An Empirical Assessment

Author

Listed:
  • Li, Jinghan
  • Zepeda, Lydia
  • Gould, Brian W.

Abstract

This analysis examines the determinants of organic food purchase behavior of a random sample of U.S. food shoppers. We analyze food expenditures conditional upon whether a household purchases organic foods. The results from our econometric modeling effort identify shopping venue, awareness of the organic label, positive beliefs toward organic foods, a positive attitude toward cooking, and a lack of religious affiliation as being important determinants of organic food purchases. Income was not found to significantly affect the decision to buy organic foods. Our results suggest that the limiting factors of the organic food market are search cost, dietary patterns, and awareness of the organic food label. Given the recent “Wal-Mart” effect on the organic food market, it is anticipated that these search costs will decrease as organic foods become more widely available.

Suggested Citation

  • Li, Jinghan & Zepeda, Lydia & Gould, Brian W., 2007. "The Demand for Organic Food in the U.S.: An Empirical Assessment," Journal of Food Distribution Research, Food Distribution Research Society, vol. 38(3), pages 1-16.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:jlofdr:46587
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.46587
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/46587/files/38030058.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.46587?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Oddveig Storstad & Hilde Bjørkhaug, 2003. "Foundations of production and consumption of organic food in Norway: Common attitudes among farmers and consumers?," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 20(2), pages 151-163, June.
    2. Leibtag, Ephraim S., 2005. "Where You Shop Matters: Store Formats Drive Variation in Retail Food Prices," Amber Waves:The Economics of Food, Farming, Natural Resources, and Rural America, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, pages 1-6, November.
    3. Ayal Kimhi, 1999. "Estimation of an endogenous switching regression model with discrete dependent variables: Monte-Carlo analysis and empirical application of three estimators," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 225-241.
    4. Gary D. Thompson & Julia Kidwell, 1998. "Explaining the Choice of Organic Produce: Cosmetic Defects, Prices, and Consumer Preferences," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 80(2), pages 277-287.
    5. Conner, David S. & Christy, Ralph D., 2004. "The Organic Label: How To Reconcile Its Meaning With Consumer Preferences," Journal of Food Distribution Research, Food Distribution Research Society, vol. 35(1), pages 1-4, March.
    6. Dimitri, Carolyn & Oberholtzer, Lydia, 2005. "Organic Price Premiums Remain High," Amber Waves:The Economics of Food, Farming, Natural Resources, and Rural America, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, pages 1-2, September.
    7. Nayga, Rodolfo M., Jr., 1995. "Determinants Of U.S. Household Expenditures On Fruit And Vegetables: A Note And Update," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 27(2), pages 1-7, December.
    8. Zepeda, Lydia & Li, Jinghan, 2007. "Characteristics of Organic Food Shoppers," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 39(1), pages 1-12, April.
    9. Wang, Qingbin & Sun, Junjie, 2003. "Consumer Preference And Demand For Organic Food: Evidence From A Vermont Survey," 2003 Annual meeting, July 27-30, Montreal, Canada 22080, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    10. Dimitri, Carolyn & Greene, Catherine R., 2002. "Recent Growth Patterns In The U.S. Organic Foods Market," Agricultural Information Bulletins 33715, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    11. Zepeda, Lydia & Li, Jinghan, 2007. "Characteristics of Organic Food Shoppers," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 39(1), pages 17-28, April.
    12. Greene, Catherine R. & Kremen, Amy, 2003. "U.S. Organic Farming In 2000-2001: Adoption Of Certified Systems," Agricultural Information Bulletins 33769, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    13. Jorge M. Agüero & Brian W. Gould, 2003. "Household Composition and Brazilian Food Purchases: An Expenditure System Approach," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 51(3), pages 323-345, November.
    14. Gifford, Katie & Bernard, John C., 2004. "The Impact of Message Framing on Organic Food Purchase Likelihood," Journal of Food Distribution Research, Food Distribution Research Society, vol. 35(3), pages 1-10, November.
    15. Govindasamy, Ramu & Italia, John, 1999. "Predicting Willingness-To-Pay A Premium For Organically Grown Fresh Produce," Journal of Food Distribution Research, Food Distribution Research Society, vol. 30(2), pages 1-10, July.
    16. Gould, Brian W. & Lin, Huei Chin, 1994. "Nutrition Information And Household Dietary Fat Intake," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 19(2), pages 1-17, December.
    17. Lydia Zepeda & Hui-Shung Chang & Catherine Leviten-Reid, 2006. "Organic Food Demand: A Focus Group Study Involving Caucasian and African-American Shoppers," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 23(3), pages 385-394, October.
    18. Underhill, Sheila E. & Figueroa, Enrique E., 1996. "Consumer Preferences For Non-Conventionally Grown Produce," Journal of Food Distribution Research, Food Distribution Research Society, vol. 27(2), pages 1-11, July.
    19. Lee, Lung-Fei & Trost, Robert P., 1978. "Estimation of some limited dependent variable models with application to housing demand," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 357-382, December.
    20. Klonsky, Karen & Greene, Catherine R., 2005. "Widespread Adoption of Organic Agriculture in the US: Are Market-Driven Policies Enough?," 2005 Annual meeting, July 24-27, Providence, RI 19382, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Cai, Xiaowei & Schroeter, Christiane, 2015. "What Would Popeye Choose: Trends of the U.S. Western Organic vs. Conventional Spinach Purchases," Western Economics Forum, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10.
    2. GwanSeon Kim & Jun Ho Seok & Tyler B. Mark, 2018. "New Market Opportunities and Consumer Heterogeneity in the U.S. Organic Food Market," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-17, September.
    3. Chad M. Baum, 2013. "The Missing Link between Research and Reality: the significance of the relationship between retail format and organic food consumption," Jena Economics Research Papers 2013-049, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    4. Schrock, Rebecca, 2010. "Determinants Of The Demand For Organic And Conventional Fresh Milk In Germany– An Econometric Analysis," 115th Joint EAAE/AAEA Seminar, September 15-17, 2010, Freising-Weihenstephan, Germany 116387, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    5. Tatiana Drugova & Kynda R. Curtis & Sherzod B. Akhundjanov, 2020. "Are multiple labels on food products beneficial or simply ignored?," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 68(4), pages 411-427, December.
    6. Abraben, Lane A. & Grogan, Kelly A. & Gao, Zhifeng, 2017. "Organic price premium or penalty? A comparative market analysis of organic wines from Tuscany," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 154-165.
    7. Schroeck, Rebecca, 2011. "A Demand System Analysis of Organic and Conventional Fresh Milk in Germany Segmented by Consumer Groups," 2011 International Congress, August 30-September 2, 2011, Zurich, Switzerland 115995, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    8. Wirth, Ferdinand F. & Stanton, John L. & Wiley, James B., 2011. "The Relative Importance of Search versus Credence Product Attributes: Organic and Locally Grown," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 40(1), pages 1-15, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lydia Zepeda & Hui-Shung Chang & Catherine Leviten-Reid, 2006. "Organic Food Demand: A Focus Group Study Involving Caucasian and African-American Shoppers," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 23(3), pages 385-394, October.
    2. Lydia Zepeda & Cong Nie, 2012. "What are the odds of being an organic or local food shopper? Multivariate analysis of US food shopper lifestyle segments," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 29(4), pages 467-480, December.
    3. Durham, Catherine A., 2007. "The Impact of Environmental and Health Motivations on the Organic Share of Produce Purchases," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 36(2), pages 1-17, October.
    4. Idda, Lorenzo & Madau, Fabio A. & Pulina, Pietro, 2008. "The Motivational Profile of Organic Food Consumers: a Survey of Specialized Stores Customers in Italy," 2008 International Congress, August 26-29, 2008, Ghent, Belgium 43946, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    5. Batte, Marvin T. & Hooker, Neal H. & Haab, Timothy C. & Beaverson, Jeremy, 2007. "Putting their money where their mouths are: Consumer willingness to pay for multi-ingredient, processed organic food products," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 145-159, April.
    6. Schrock, Rebecca, 2010. "Determinants Of The Demand For Organic And Conventional Fresh Milk In Germany– An Econometric Analysis," 115th Joint EAAE/AAEA Seminar, September 15-17, 2010, Freising-Weihenstephan, Germany 116387, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    7. Schroeck, Rebecca, 2011. "A Demand System Analysis of Organic and Conventional Fresh Milk in Germany Segmented by Consumer Groups," 2011 International Congress, August 30-September 2, 2011, Zurich, Switzerland 115995, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    8. Julia Knaggs & J. Ross Pruitt & Lindsay Anderson & Marco Palma, 2022. "Influence of social status, physical activity, and socio-demographics on willingness to pay for a basket of organic foods," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 10(1), pages 1-14, December.
    9. Jessica Aschemann-Witzel & Stephan Zielke, 2017. "Can't Buy Me Green? A Review of Consumer Perceptions of and Behavior Toward the Price of Organic Food," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(1), pages 211-251, March.
    10. Govindasamy, R & Arumugam, S & Vellangany, I & Ozkan, B, 2018. "Willingness to pay a high-premium for fresh organic produce: an econometric analysis," Agricultural Economics Research Review, Agricultural Economics Research Association (India), vol. 31(1).
    11. Chen, Bo & Saghaian, Sayed, 2017. "Does Consumers’ Preference for Organic Foods Affect Their Store Format Choices?," 2017 Annual Meeting, February 4-7, 2017, Mobile, Alabama 252827, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
    12. McFadden, Jonathan R. & Huffman, Wallace E., 2017. "Willingness-to-pay for natural, organic, and conventional foods: The effects of information and meaningful labels," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 214-232.
    13. Chang, Jae Bong & Lusk, Jayson L., 2008. "Concerns for Fairness and Preferences for Organic Food," 2008 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2008, Orlando, Florida 6414, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    14. Kuhar, Ales & Juvancic, L., 2012. "Determinants of purchasing behaviour for organic and integrated fruits and vegetables in Slovenia," Agricultural Economics Review, Greek Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 11(2), pages 1-14.
    15. Singerman, Ariel & Lence, Sergio H. & Kimble-Evans, Amanda, 2010. "Organic Crop Prices, or 2x Conventional Ones?," Staff General Research Papers Archive 31544, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    16. Meyer, Andrew, 2015. "Does education increase pro-environmental behavior? Evidence from Europe," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 108-121.
    17. Darby, Kim & Batte, Marvin T. & Ernst, Stanley C. & Roe, Brian E., 2006. "Willingness to pay for locally produced foods: A customer intercept study of direct market and grocery store shoppers," 2006 Annual meeting, July 23-26, Long Beach, CA 21336, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    18. Smith, Travis A. & Lin, Biing-Hwan & Huang, Chung L., 2008. "Organic Premiums of U.S. Fresh Produce," 2008 Conference, April 21-22, 2008, St. Louis, Missouri 37626, NCCC-134 Conference on Applied Commodity Price Analysis, Forecasting, and Market Risk Management.
    19. Zepeda, Lydia & Chang, Hui-Shung (Christie), 2004. "Demand for Organic Food: Focus Group Discussions in Armidale, NSW," Working Papers 12926, University of New England, School of Economics.
    20. Astrid Jonas & Jutta Roosen, 2008. "Demand for milk labels in Germany: organic milk, conventional brands, and retail labels," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(2), pages 192-206.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:jlofdr:46587. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fdrssea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.