Another area for the PSU researchers to study was the effect of children on household preferences for locally grown and certified organic produce.
The responses suggest that a greater percentage of individuals who had children in the household selected options that emphasized “Certified Organic,” while individuals without children were more likely to select options that included “Locally Grown.” For example, the first set of options (where both were “Locally Grown”) shows a greater percentage of consumers with children (65.7%) compared to those without children (60.3%) selected the option that included “Certified Organic.” In Set 2 (both “Certified Organic”) and Set 3 (neither “Certified Organic”), those with no children in the household preferred the “Locally Grown” option by 5 to 6 percentage points.
One explanation for this difference is that individuals may have the tendency to purchase organics for their children to eat but they are not necessarily purchasing it for themselves to consume.
To read more about this survey, please read the press release.
As an ag entrepreneur, how can this information be used to position your food products for these demographic groups? If you sell organics, are most of your organic purchases from parents? How do the terms "certified organic" and "locally grown" affect consumers' perception of your products?
