21 pages, Produce that does not meet sellers’ esthetic standards may be redirected to alternative uses or wasted, but consumer trends indicate potential marketability of blemished produce. We conduct a nonhypothetical experimental auction to elicit consumer willingness-to-pay (WTP) for produce of varying degrees of blemish and test whether valuations are affected by (1) information on food waste resulting from grocery stores’ esthetic standards and (2) additional information on the environmental impacts of food waste. WTP for blemished produce increases as consumers become informed, but the information effects vary by blemishing degree. Market simulations indicate that introducing blemished produce can increase retailer revenue.
9 pages, The rapid growth in web-based grocery food purchasing has outpaced federal regulatory attention to the online provision of nutrition and allergen information historically required on food product labels. We sought to characterise the extent and variability that online retailers disclose required and regulated information and identify the legal authorities for the federal government to require online food retailers to disclose such information.
Online from publication. 3 pages., Ideas for staffing and promoting sales of fruits and vegetables in the produce departments of retail food stores during the Easter season, which features nearly as heavy volume as Thanksgiving.
Online from publication. 3 pages., Food store produce specialist urges produce managers to get summer extra-help staff members identified early and begin to train them by mid-April. "June is too late, you know." The busiest quarter of the year for fruits and vegetables is often run with the least-experienced people, due in part to summer vacation schedules of experienced personnel.
Online from publication. 1 page., Brief review of research reports indicated that beef demand has remained strong to date, online ordering for both groceries and meat ordering is likely here to stay, and positive consumer perceptions of beef increased during the pandemic.
Online from publication. 4 pages., Suggestions from a New York City-based exotic fruit influencer and leadership developer Angela Scarfia in leading an online workshop about marketing produce brands and companies on social media.
Online from periodical. 5 pages., Article reports on promotion approaches that retailers are finding useful in marketing apples during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Online from the periodical. 2 pages., Reports marketing communications and leadership perspectives of Jeff Cady, the Produce Market Guide "Produce Retailer of the Year."
Online from periodical. 2 pages., Report of a presentation at the West Coast Produce Expo about Amazon's new Fresh banner, with establishment of small and medium-sized grocery stores.
Online from periodical. 2 pages., Results of BrickMeetsClick/Mercatus Grocery Shopping Survey indicated that roughly 37.5 million U.S. households (29%) used online grocery services in the month of August. That number represents a 133% increase from a year ago. "These results reinforce that grocery delivery and pickup services will continue to play an important role for both shoppers and retailers going forward."
Via online issue. 6 pages., Part of a series about how to succeed in produce display contests. This article emphasizes how display contests grow shopping basket size, expose new items to customers, help create an engaging image, build teamwork within the store, generate fun, and allow your community and beyond to see your work. "In the end, it really is all about having fun."
2 pages, Online from publication. 2 pages., Food Marketing Institute's 2020 Power of Produce Report indicated that the power of local produce is not fading. More than 50% of respondents said they would like to see a greater assortment of locally grown produce at their primary store. Great promotions, displaying items in season and eye-catching displays were identified as most effective at driving impulse purchases, which tend to involve local produce.
Online from publisher. 1 page., Consultant author identifies four trends he expects in retailing - in general and in food produce departments in particular.
18 pages, via online journal, Consumers are concerned about the quality and safety of their food at all times during the food supply chain, but sensationalized media coverage, lack of knowledge, and recent recalls have made it difficult for consumers to trust the agricultural industry. Because trust drives risk perceptions and acceptance, it is important for agricultural communicators to understand how personal characteristics influence trust in the food supply chain. To fulfill the purpose of this study, a national quota sample of 847 responses to an online questionnaire were collected in March 2019. The results indicated respondents held a moderate level of trust toward production agriculture, food processing, food retail, and food safety regulation, with the greatest level of trust assigned to production agriculture. Trust in these sectors of the food supply chain were also positively correlated to one another. Regression models for trust in each agricultural sector were significant but only accounted for 9% of the variance in the dependent variable at most. Direct engagement in agriculture was a positive predictor in trust across all four areas, and use of social media was a negative predictor for trust. Income and gender were also found to be predictors of trust in production agriculture, food processing, food retail, and food safety regulation. The findings from this study can be used to guide future communication to increase the level of trust in the food supply chain, which would also increase consumers’ purchasing intent.
Markenson, Steve (author / Food Marketing Institute)
Format:
Research summary
Publication Date:
2020-04-17
Published:
USA: Food Marketing Institute, Arlington, Virginia.
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 201 Document Number: D11747
Notes:
Online from Institute website. 2 pages., Summary of efforts to track how shoppers are finding new ways of grocery shopping during the coronavirus. Compared with other grocery shoppers, Latinx and Black shoppers are more likely to report a disruption in their household as a result of the pandemic. They are adjusting where they shop (fewer, different stores), shopping more online, spending more money per trip, and changing the range of products for which they shop.
10 pages., Via online journal., A survey of Connecticut consumers was used to investigate perceptions of various green industry retailers. Consumer perceptions of independent garden centers (IGC), home improvement centers (HIC), and mass merchandisers (MM) business practices and their perceived value were assessed. Analysis of variance and ordinary least squares regression models were used to analyze the data. Results indicated that customer service, knowledgeable staff, and high-quality plants are important factors when consumers are deciding where to shop. IGCs were ranked highest in perceived customer service, knowledgeable staff, and plant quality, followed by HICs. MMs were ranked lowest for the majority of measured business practices, with the most notable exception being price. Additionally, IGCs, HICs, and MMs are perceived differently across age cohorts.
Baker, Lauri M. (author), Boyer, Cheryl R. (author), Peterson, Hikaru Hanawa (author), King, Audrey E.H. (author), and Kansas State University
University of Minnesota, St. Paul
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2018-08
Published:
United States: American Society for Horticultural Science
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 11 Document Number: D10334
8 pages., Via online journal., Online, direct selling (ODS) has become the leading way that people acquire goods, with Amazon (Seattle, WA) being the largest online vendor in the United States. This study sought to determine if horticultural businesses were engaging in ODS with Amazon, ebay, and other websites. Researchers examined the ODS activity of 498 businesses using quantitative content analysis methods, and found that 93 horticultural industry businesses were conducting some form of ODS through their websites, but only four offered products on Amazon. Results indicate that ODS remains an untapped marketplace for the horticultural industry, particularly for small, rural businesses.
Erickson, Bruce (author) and Lowenberg-DeBoer, James (author)
Format:
Survey report
Publication Date:
2018-07-19
Published:
USA: Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 32 Document Number: D10589
Notes:
20 pages., Via online - Power Point presentation. Summarizes retail dealers' adoption of precision technologies in agriculture, 1997-2017., The CropLife/Purdue University precision dealer survey is the longest-running continuous survey of precision farming adoption. The 2017 survey is the 18th, conducted every year from 1997 to 2009, and then every other year following. Major sections of the survey include precision technologies used by the retailers within their business/on their equipment, the adoption rates of precision products and services offered by retailers to customers, the dealer’s estimation of the acres in their area where farmers are using precision practices, and questions about profitability, technology investment, and constraints to adoption.
The 2017 survey shows substantial increases in the adoption of practices that provide data for understanding and managing inter- and intra-field variability. Grid/zone soil sampling, which was being offered by 35 to 57% of dealers in a period stretching from 1999 to 2013, increased to 67% in 2015 and to 78% offering in 2017. Soil EC mapping increased from 19% in 2015 to 31% in 2017, and dealers offering UAV services from 19% to 30%. At the same time variable rate technology (VRT) seeding prescriptions, VRT lime application, and VRT fertilizer application services are up, yet VRT pesticide offerings are down. Seventy eight percent of dealers are using autoguidance for their custom application and 73% are using sprayer section controllers.
Chrisinger, Benjamin W (author), Kallan, Michael J. (author), Whiteman, Eliza D. (author), Hillier, Amy (author), and Standford University
University of Pennsylvania
Format:
Online journal article
Publication Date:
2018-03-16
Published:
United States: Elsevier
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 133 Document Number: D11387
7 pages., via online journal, Food shopping decisions are pathways between food environment, diet and health outcomes, including chronic diseases such as diabetes and obesity. The choices of where to shop and what to buy are interrelated, though a better understanding of this dynamic is needed. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's nationally representative Food Acquisitions and Purchase Survey food-at-home dataset was joined with other databases of retailer characteristics and Healthy Eating Index-2010 (HEI) of purchases. We used linear regression models with general estimating equations to assess relationships between trip, store, and shopper characteristics with trip HEI scores. We examined HEI component scores for conventional supermarkets and discount/limited assortment retailers with descriptive statistics. Overall, 4962 shoppers made 11,472 shopping trips over one-week periods, 2012–2013. Trips to conventional supermarkets were the most common (53.6%), followed by supercenters (18.6%). Compared to conventional supermarkets, purchases at natural/gourmet stores had significantly higher HEI scores (β = 6.48, 95% CI = [4.45, 8.51], while those from “other” retailers (including corner and convenience stores) were significantly lower (−3.89, [−5.87, −1.92]). Older participants (versus younger) and women (versus men) made significantly healthier purchases (1.19, [0.29, 2.10]). Shoppers with less than some college education made significantly less-healthy purchases, versus shoppers with more education, as did households participating in SNAP, versus those with incomes above 185% of the Federal Poverty Level. Individual, trip, and store characteristics influenced the healthfulness of foods purchased. Interventions to encourage healthy purchasing should reflect these dynamics in terms of how, where, and for whom they are implemented.
Both, Arend-Jan (author), Bugbee, Bruce (author), Kubota, Chieri (author), Lopez, Roberto G. (author), Mitchell, Cary (author), Runkle, Erik S. (author), Wallace, Claude (author), and Rutgers University
UT State University
University of Arizona
Michigan State University
Purdue University
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2017-08
Published:
United States: American Society for Horticultural Science
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 16 Document Number: D10439
6 pages., Via online journal., Electric lamps are widely used to supplement sunlight (supplemental lighting) and daylength extension (photoperiodic lighting) for the production of horticultural crops in greenhouses and controlled environments. Recent advances in light-emitting diode (LED) technology now provide the horticultural industry with multiple lighting options. However, growers are unable to compare technologies and LED options because of insufficient data on lamp performance metrics. Here, we propose a standardized product label that facilitates the comparison of lamps across manufacturers. This label includes the photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) efficacy, PAR conversion efficiency, photon flux density output in key wave bands, as well as the phytochrome photostationary state (PSS), red/far red ratio, and graphs of the normalized photon flux density across the 300–900 nm wave band and a horizontal distribution of the light output.
Souza-Monteiro, D. (author), Hooker, Neal (author), and School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Newcastle University, Newcastle, United Kingdom
The John Glenn College of Public Affairs, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2017
Published:
United Kingdom: Emerald Group Publishing Ltd., Bingley, UK.
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 162 Document Number: D08103
13 pages, Online via UI Library electronic subscription, Report of research to determine how effectively an injury prevention project could engage agribusinesses through the postal service and to assess their willingness to display a safety poster involving all-terrain vehicles (ATVs). Findings suggested that mass mailing of injury prevention materials to be displayed in the retail setting may be a low cost method for raising safety awareness.
