Who Buys Local Food?

Using data from a national survey of food shoppers, a Lancaster-Weinstein model is estimated using probit analysis to investigate the characteristics of local food buyers. Because there is no standard for what “local food ” is, consumer research is used to define the term fairly narrowly as buying from farmers ’ markets, buying directly from farmers, and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) membership. The results reveal that income and demographic characteris-tics are not dominant factors, nor do attitudes or behaviors related to the environment and health significantly affect whether shoppers buy local. Rather, it is the attitudes and behaviors related to food and shopping that significantly increase the probability that shoppers buy local food. The implications are strategies that will be effective in promot-ing local foods. “The most sincere form of love is the love of food. ” —George Bernard Shaw The growing sensitivity toward origin of food is a predictable outcome of an increasingly competitive global food system; as sourcing in the commodity system becomes increasingly complex, consumers look for simple ways to identify desirable charac-teristics. For example, public support for manda-tory country-of-origin labels (COOL) stems largely from food-safety concerns. Consumers in the United States view other countries or specific countries as having laxer rules or enforcement with respect to use of agricultural chemicals and food processin