Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

Survey shows how high prices, local food, environmental and food safety concerns sway consumer views

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September 29, 2008

AMES, Iowa -- Rising fuel and food prices, coupled with increased concern about environmental impacts and safety of the food supply, are changing the perceptions of American consumers, according to a recent nationwide survey conducted by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture.

The survey showed that consumers are re-assessing their shopping and eating habits to cut fuel use, would consider carbon food labels as long as their costs do not increase, worried more about natural habitat loss than greenhouse gas emissions, and were much more likely to view local food as having traveled 100 miles or less from the farm to point of sale than coming from their state or region.

These are the views of a representative, nationwide sample of more than 750 consumers who participated in a web-based survey conducted by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture in August 2008. Their responses are summarized in a new Leopold Center report, "Food, Fuel and the Future: Consumer perceptions of local food, food safety and climate change in the context of rising prices." The paper was written by Rich Pirog, who leads the Center's Marketing and Food Systems Initiative, and Iowa State University graduate student Becky Rasmussen.

Objectives of the study were to gauge consumer perceptions about:

  • Food purchases and transportation use in response to higher food and fuel prices,
  • Food safety, within the context of where their food comes from and how it is grown,
  • Impact that various scales and production methods of the food system have on greenhouse gas emissions,
  • Willingness to pay for a food system that achieves a net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and
  • Meaning of local food in terms of distance and location.

Survey respondents were more likely to respond to rising food and fuel prices by taking fewer vacations, buying more food items on sale, eating out less, and purchasing fewer desserts (compared to other food categories).A minority of respondents (17 percent) were very likely to cope with rising prices by increasing their purchases at farmers markets or by canning or freezing more fruits and vegetables.

Pirog said that while 55 percent of the respondents perceived the U.S. food system to be safe, that number had dropped from 70 percent in a similar Leopold Center survey conducted in July 2007. There was clear concern with a global food supply chain system – only 15 percent of respondents viewed such a system as safe, compared to 74 percent for a local system and 73 percent for a regional system.

“The respondents believed that a food safety seal or inspection certification, along with more information about who has handled and produced the food, along with country of origin, would increase their confidence in the food supply,” Pirog said.

Respondents also were asked a series of questions about their perceptions of greenhouse gases in food supply chains, including labels that showed a food's carbon footprint (amount of greenhouse gas emissions), and how greenhouse gas emissions and climate change compared with other environmental problems. More than 50 percent of respondents saw value in retailers putting carbon labels on their food products, with the vast majority only willing to encourage the labels if their costs did not increase. Fifty percent of respondents perceived the loss of natural habitat as more important an environmental issue than climate change, with more than 40 percent viewing water pollution as more important.

How far can food travel and still be considered "local"? The survey offered respondents a menu of options from which to select their definition of locally grown. More than two-thirds said that local food traveled 100 miles or less from the farm to point of purchase, while only a third viewed the definition as grown in their state or region. Respondents from larger western states were less likely to choose the option “25 miles or less” and more likely to choose “grown within their state” as their definition of local than their counterparts across the rest of the country.

Pirog noted that “as the demand for local food products increases, it is critical that retailers, distributors, and farmers develop clear and authentic messages about these products to maintain consumer confidence and trust.”

In 2001, he led some of the first research in the United States on the concept of "food miles," the distance that food travels from where it is grown to where it is purchased for consumption. He also has investigated consumer perceptions of local, place-based and organic foods.

The 47-page report is available on the Leopold Center web site.

For more info contact:

Rich Pirog, Marketing and Food Systems Initiative, (515) 294-1854, rspirog@iastate.edu

Laura Miller, Leopold Center Communications, (515) 294-5272, lwmiller@iastate.edu

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