By Martha Filipic, OSU Extension
Ohio Farm Bureau Federation

Columbus, OH — It may be beneficial for organic farmers and local food distributors to market their products differently to different types of consumers, according to Ohio State University research.

The study, “A Comparison of Attitudes About Local and Organic Foods, Health and Farming,” was led by doctoral candidate Molly Bean Smith in the Department of Human and Community Resource Development. Smith is also a research associate with the Social Responsibility Initiative (SRI) within the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. SRI is a joint effort of the college, Ohio State University Extension, and the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center.

For the study, Smith examined results of two surveys of central Ohioans. One was conducted in 2004 among a cross-section of the general Ohio population. The other, in 2005, targeted central Ohioans who were members of the Clintonville Community Market or the group Simply Living, a nonprofit organization promoting environmental and social responsibility, and which gives leadership for several local food system initiatives in central Ohio. Smith called the latter group “motivated consumers” — consumers who were actively involved in food-system issues.

Not surprisingly, Smith found that the general population and the motivated consumers expressed varying levels of interest in buying both organic foods and foods produced on local farms. But she feels her findings could be significant for Ohio farmers trying to target their foods to different markets.

In the study, motivated consumers appeared more interested in organic foods, with 57 percent indicating that an “organic” food label was “very important” in their decision to purchase a food, compared with 44 percent saying that “locally grown” was very important.

For the general population, interest in both types of products was lower, but there was greater interest in purchasing locally grown products — 25 percent thought “locally grown” was “very important” — compared with 17 percent indicating that “organic” was very important.

“It used to be that many organic foods you could buy were also grown locally, but that’s not necessarily true anymore,” Smith said. “You can purchase organic foods that have been shipped across the country to get to your store.” The study was designed to tease out which aspect of locally grown and organic foods was more important to different consumers.

“The general population pays more attention to a food’s price — 65 percent thought price was very important, compared with only 30 percent of the motivated consumers,” Smith said. Still, a healthy portion of general consumers expressed strong interest in purchasing locally grown products. To Smith, that says producers who want to tap into this market may want to emphasize the fact that the food is locally grown, even if it’s also organically produced. Conversely, producers hoping to gain more sales at community or specialized markets may want to put more emphasis on their organic products.

In addition, community or specialized markets that want to appeal more to the general population may want to focus more marketing efforts on their supply of locally grown foods, Smith said. “This could be a big opportunity,” she said.

“Although motivated consumers do report they are willing to purchase more locally grown food, and are willing to pay more for it, their interest is much stronger in organically grown food,” Smith said. “But in the larger population, interest appears stronger in locally grown foods than in organics.”

Among other findings in the study:

  • Motivated consumers believe more strongly that organically grown foods are healthier, compared with the beliefs of the general population.
  • Motivated consumers are more likely than those in the general population to be vegetarian (26 percent of motivated consumers, compared with 5 percent in the general population) and to have a food allergy in the household (80 percent, compared with 23 percent).
  • Motivated consumers also indicated a stronger interest in using food choices to maintain health (98 percent compared with 85 percent).
  • Both sets of consumers conveyed strongly favorable views of farmers and farming, although motivated consumers expressed lower levels of trust in farmers to protect the environment.

For her study, Smith used data collected from the statewide 2004 Ohio Survey of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Issues, led by her adviser, associate professor Jeff Sharp. She used only the data collected from the 298 residents of central Ohio — those in Franklin and surrounding counties — for results from the general population. She compared those findings to those of a 2005 survey from 268 “motivated consumers” from Simply Living or the Clintonville Community Market. This survey was funded through a graduate research enhancement grant provided by state and federal funds appropriated to Ohio State University and the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center.

    For a copy of the eight-page report on the study, contact Smith at [email protected] or (614) 688-8798. The report is also online on the SRI Web site at http://sri.osu.edu (click on “Events” and then “The Ohio Survey of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Issues”) or directly from the Ohio survey Web site at http://ohiosurvey.osu.edu (click on “Publications” and then “Food”).

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