A Glimpse of University of Montana Students\u27 Opinions on Beef Production and Consumption

This study looks at University of Montana (UM) students’ opinions on the topics of beef production and consumption. Investigating students’ opinions on beef production and consumption will provide a better understanding of student beliefs regarding local, grass-finished beef. This information will be useful to beef producers in Western Montana. This study collected data via dot survey. The survey included four questions with five to six prescribed answers for participants to choose from. In total, 198 beefeating UM students of varying ages participated in the survey. All data was collected at the same time, over the duration of two hours, in front of the UM cafeteria. The results show that taste and pricing are among the most important factors for students when considering which beef to eat. These results indicate that college students care about more than just eating what is cheap. Additionally, results show that animal care is another facet of beef production that students are curious about when selecting beef. Finally, a question about meat substitutes showed UM students did not support meat alternatives more than real beef. Understanding UM students’ interests could be helpful to Western Montana beef producers when they are deciding where and to whom they should market their products