Overall, it is fairly common for Washington consumers to make at least some purchases directly from local farmers. More than a quarter of the consumers surveyed reported buying products directly from a local farmer twice a month or more during the growing season.  Another 43 percent of consumers said that they made such purchases, but only once a month or less.  Just under a third of consumers said that they never purchased products directly from farmers. Residents in urban counties were less likely to report making direct purchases from local farmers.

Strong Consumer Interest in Increasing Direct Purchases
The majority of the Washington consumers interviewed said that they would like to purchase more products directly from local farmers, however, interest levels varied substantially by product.  More than 80 percent of consumers were interested in buying more fruits and vegetables directly from local farmers, while the demand for animal products like eggs, dairy and meat was far lower. Nevertheless, for each type of farm product, there are significant numbers of consumers who say they would like to increase their purchases from local farmers.

Consumer Criteria for Food Selection
In trying to understand what motivates consumers, we asked them a variety of questions about their criteria for making food purchases. The table below sets out the attributes considered most important by the respondents ranked in descending order of frequency. We found that the top consumer values were freshness and taste, followed by nutritional value.  For the majority of the respondents, price was not as important a factor as convenience.  According to the respondents, the biggest factors preventing them from buying food at farmers’ markets were issues like “it isn’t open at the right times” or “there isn’t one in my neighborhood” rather than cost.  However, cost is a more important factor for consumers in the most rural counties.  In contrast, the importance of organic was far more important to urban than rural residents.  This did not correspond with perceptions about the environment, however, because rural residents were just as concerned as urban respondents about “environmental friendliness.”  Buying local food products was a very low priority across the board.  However, if the question is reworded to ask whether “keeping local farms in business” was important, far higher numbers of respondents responded. Urban residents were less likely to value this than rural residents. 

Analysis of the contrasts in values that emerge between consumers in rural and urban counties suggests that consumer demand is far more regionally and culturally diverse than mass-market theorists would predict. Nevertheless, demand for high quality products remains strong across all regions. 

In comparing and contrasting consumer views with those of farmers in important farm policy arenas, there are significant areas of convergence and divergence.  Consumers are slightly more supportive of efforts to control development in important agricultural areas than are farmers, while a majority of both groups agree that these measures are essential.  Consumers are more likely than farmers to think that free trade agreements will help them. However, both consumers and farmers overwhelmingly support the idea of a “Grown in Washington” label.  Interestingly, while a full 94 percent of consumers think such a label would help producers, only 41 percent say that this is an important food purchasing criteria for them.

This preliminary draft was compiled by Dr. Marcia Ostrom, Small Farms Program Director and Assistant Professor, Washington State University. For more information, please contact: mrostrom@wsu.edu, 253-445-4514. This research project was funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Washington Farming and the Environment Project. For more 2002 survey results and details see: http://www.crs.wsu.edu/agsurvey/index.html