CONSUMER PREFERENCES FOR NON-CONVENTIONALLY GROWN PRODUCE

This study examines the potential for marketing fresh fruits and vegetables with labels indicating enhanced food and/or environmental safety attributes as compared to conventional produce. Four labels were investigated: Organic, Certified Organic, Certified Pesticide Residue-Free, and Grown with IPM. Results confirm findings of other surveys relating to concerns about pesticide residues. Seventy-one percent (71%) of respondents stated they believed that pesticide residues in food present a serious or moderate health hazard to consumers. In addition, 74% believed that pesticides pose a serious or moderate hazard to the environment, and 64% felt there was a serious or moderate hazard to farm workers. Results indicate there is a positive information effect for likelihood of purchasing for all of the labels, and this effect is statistically significant for all of the labels except for Certified Pesticide Residue-Free. The magnitude of the information effect for the Grown with IPM label was considerably higher than for the other labels, suggesting that there might be substantial payoffs for informing consumers about this label