An ethnographic analysis of consumer information processing and decision-making at farmers’ markets

Purpose Farmers’ markets have grown rapidly in recent years and at the same time consumers increasingly desire to eat healthfully and sustainably. This research aims to analyze the way consumers process information regarding local food claims such as sustainability and organics when shopping for local foods at farmers’ markets. Design/methodology/approach This research uses ethnographic methods that included interviews with 36 participants, more than 100 hours of participant observation and prolonged engagement over a two and half-year period. Findings The findings indicate that there are two dominant types of consumers at the farmers’ market, hedonistic and utilitarian consumers. Hedonistic consumers rely on heuristic cues such as aesthetics, their relationship with the farmer and other peripheral sources of information when making purchase decisions. Utilitarian consumers, by contrast, carefully analyze marketing messages using central route cues and tend to be more conscious of their purchase choices. Practical implications This study will help farmers more effectively position their marketing messages and help consumers be aware how they process information in this space. Originality/value Unlike previous studies of consumer behavior at farmers’ markets that primarily use survey methods, this study uses observational and ethnographic methods to capture in situ interactions in this complex buying context. Further, while much work has been done on broad concepts of local food and organic preferences, this study provides a more in-depth look at consumer information processing in the farmers’ market space that reflects a mixture of organic and non-organic food.

Local food consumption values and attitude formation: the moderating effect of food neophilia and neophobia

PurposeThe local food tourism in Pakistan is increasing rapidly, and it attracts scholars to determine the factors affecting local food tourists' buying choices. Particularly, the authors aim to investigate the role of food consumption values on predicting domestic tourists' attitude toward local food and its effect on the intention to try local food with the moderating effect of personality traits (neophobia and neophilia).Design/methodology/approachThe authors tested the study model on 250 completed responses from local food tourists. They collected the data from three tourism locations (Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Peshawar) in Pakistan. Their study utilizes the consumption value theory within the limits of Pakistan's local food tourism.FindingsThe empirical findings show that consumption values, such as price, emotion, interaction, epistemic value, location value and variety value, effectively explain the domestic tourists' attitude toward local food. The authors further report that food neophilia strengthens the local tourists' positive reception toward the local food. However, food neophobia weakens the direction between local tourists' attitude toward local food and the intention to try local food.Practical implicationsThis study provides insights pertaining to tourists' local food consumption values (LFCVs) to a local destination owner and marketing manager to strategically work on LFCVs that are crucial for domestic tourists to derive their intention to try local food. Practitioners should work on domestic tourists who possess food neophobia trait and enquire them for their rejection or avoidance of a particular local destination. This will enable practitioners to bring innovation and development in the local destination, which ultimately promote local food tourism.Originality/valueThis study is the first to incorporate the variety and local value in tourists' LFCVs to predict local tourists' attitude toward local food. Additionally, the authors contribute to local food tourism by empirically studying the moderating role of personality traits (food neophilia and food neophobia) to examine the direction between local tourists' attitude and intention to local food.

Is Buying Local Food a Sustainable Practice? A Scoping Review of Consumers’ Preference for Local Food

Access to healthy food and the introduction of sustainable nutrition practices are two important issues today. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new challenges to food security but it has also provided opportunities for local food production. The discussion on local food has been gaining attention in recent years, but there is still a lack of clear understanding of the term ‘local food’ in the literature. The relationship between local food and sustainability issues is still unclear and has various connotations. This discordance leads to further discussions on whether buying local food should be considered a sustainable behavior and whether consumer preference for local food can be perceived as a sustainable practice. A scoping literature review was conducted in order to fill this gap and to shed light on the main tendencies of the scientific literature regarding this topic. The outcomes of the research revealed three dimensions of ‘local food’ definitions in the literature: geographical, geopolitical, and organic; while the problem of a unified local food definition remains open. The studied literature did not show any sound evidence for sustainability attributes in the definition of local food and consumer perception of local food.

Community Supported Agriculture, Human Capital, and Community Health

Community supported agriculture (CSA) strengthens the local food system (LFS) and plays a critical role in promoting human capital (HC) and addressing social determinants of health (SDH). Most CSAs develop relationships that build a sense of community, and engage in activities that facilitate access to food and economic opportunities. CSAs may also contribute to personal development, education and income, working experience, and knowledge. CSA principles align with the principles of HC, specifically the pursuit of economic development. While research on the connection between CSA and HC has broadly focused on the economic aspect, the human development dimension has remained at the conceptual level. The purpose of this study was to assess the potential HC contributions by CSA and the implications for health outcomes in central/northern New Mexico. Primary and secondary data were collected through a semi-structured, open-ended questionnaire and an internet search. Purposive sampling was used to select 13 CSAs. Eight (61.5%) responded and reported activities that address HC and SDH such as training, job creation, education, access to healthy food, food security, health education and disease management, social connections, and food justice. Given the potential impact, public health must contribute to CSA by generating evidence on its health and social benefits, training practitioners on supporting local food program, and promoting policy that stimulates the local economy, fosters social relations and food justice, and empowers community members. This study calls for research and practice to take a multilevel perspective on the contribution of LFSs to equity and wellbeing.

Investigating Predictors of Public- and Private-Sphere Sustainable Behaviors in the Context of Agritourism

Encouraging sustainable behaviors regarding food choices among the public is crucial to ensure food systems’ sustainability. We expand the understanding of sustainable behavioral change by assessing engagement in local food systems (LFSs) in the context of agritourism experiences. Using theory of planned behavior (TPB) and personal norms, we conducted pre–post-surveys at agritourism farms to measure the impact of changes in the TPB behavioral antecedents as predictors of the following behavioral intentions regarding LFS engagement: (1) purchasing local food (private-sphere behavior), (2) increasing monthly budget to purchase local food (private-sphere behavior) and (3) advocating for local food (public-sphere behavior). Our findings indicate that strategies to encourage LFS engagement should seek to activate moral considerations that can motivate action across private and public behaviors, which applies to various demographic groups. To stimulate collective action, strategies should target subjective norms specifically (e.g., encouraging social interaction around local food), while strategies encouraging private behaviors should focus on easing perceived barriers to buying local food (e.g., promoting local food outlets). As agritourism experiences effectively modify the three above-mentioned behavioral antecedents, we advocate for holistic experiences that provide opportunities for deeper engagement with local food, stimulate the senses, and facilitate social interaction around LFSs.