Drivers of Demand for Specialty Crops: The Example of Arizona-Grown Medjool Dates

Carola Grebitus (), Anne Peschel and Renee Shaw Hughner

No 235545, 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts from Agricultural and Applied Economics Association

Abstract: Recently, gross production of Medjool dates has approximately doubled in Arizona, with the growing region increasing to over 3,000 harvested acres in 2014. As the supply of Medjool dates increases, consumer demand needs to increase accordingly. This research aims to investigate consumer preferences for specialty crops such as Medjool dates. This paper analyzes the impact of Arizona Grown and California Grown labeling on consumer preferences for Medjool dates applying choice experiments. Furthermore, the influence of pesticide-free labeling and GMO-free labeling on willingness to pay is tested both individually and as interaction effect. Results show that consumers prefer dates grown in California and Arizona over dates not labeled for region of origin. Between California and Arizona, those dates originating in California are preferred. Also, pesticide free and GM-free dates are preferred with pesticide free having a larger impact on choices. Overall, results can be used by stakeholders to create target oriented marketing activities.

Keywords: Agribusiness; Marketing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:aaea16:235545

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.235545

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