Progress 08/15/23 to 08/14/24

Outputs
Target Audience:Our primary audience for this project is stakeholders in the North American hemp industry, including hemp producers and processors in both the Canada and the United States. Secondary audiences include other researchers as well as agriculture regulatory professionals in U.S. state and federal governments and Canadian provincial and federal governments. Changes/Problems:The major change during this reporting period was a change in Project Director (PD). The original PD, Jane Kolodinsky, transitioned to an Emerita position in Fall 2023 and the day to day leadership moved to David Conner. Outside of this project, we continue to keep an eye on the shifting regulatory landscape for hemp in the United States. The passage of a new farm bill in the next year may have impacts on our work. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?In its first year this project has already engaged four graduate students. University of Vermont Ph.D. graduate Hannah Lacasse completed her degree in the first year of this grant, and a paper incorporating findings from this project was part of her dissertation. Dr. Lacasse presented those findings at the July 2024 meeting of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association in New Orleans, Louisiana. University of Alberta masters' candidate Abigail Boahemaa has been a key member of the stated preference team. She participated in the development of both survey instruments and is currently analyzing data from the completed survey on water bottles. Ms. Boahemaa will complete her degree before the end of the year. We have engaged two new graduate students to begin their work on this project in its second year. They will be based at the University of Arkansas under the supervision of Brandon McFadden. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We made our first presentation on project findings this past July at the annual meeting of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association in New Orleans, Louisianna. We plan to present findings to other researchers and to stakeholders as we delve further into research in Year 2. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The University of Alberta branch of the stated preference team will analyze the results of both surveys this fall. New graduate students at the University of Arkansas are currently in training, with plans to develop and launch U.S.-based stated preference surveys this year. Our revealed preference team is currently estimating a double hurdle model to assess characteristics of hemp-purchasing households. We intend to share these results and preview upcoming plans at several conferences over the next year.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? In year one we launched both the revealed and stated preference arms of the project. The stated preference team began its work in Canada with a national survey of 1,000 respondents. The survey assesses willingness-to-pay for hemp-derived plastic beverage bottles. We have completed the survey distribution and have begun analyzing results. At the same time, we are conducting a second national survey in Canada about willingness-to-pay for hemp-derived plastic clamshell takeout containers. We will analyze the surveys in tandem with the goal of determining if there are differences in willingness to pay for hemp plastics between different products. The revealed preference team built on our previous research into hemp products using IRI data. Graduate student Hannah Lacasse successfully defended her Ph.D. dissertation in the summer of 2024, which included a paper looking at the relationship between consumer health characteristics and hemp purchases. This paper had its roots in previous investigations but came to fruition under this grant. We kicked off new work for this project by searching the IRI database for hemp products using a keyword algorithm. We identified approximately 1,500 hemp products each year and produced a variety of summary statistics on hemp sales by category, state, and year. Our team is currently exploring Mintel data, which provides detailed information on product attributes and will provide deeper insights into hemp product availability and characteristics. We have also laid the groundwork for future statistical analyses by exploring possible methodologies. We investigated the possibility of using joinpoint regression models to study changes in hemp demand over time as a function of demographic and/or behavioral characteristics. Joinpoint regression has been used in the medical literature to investigate trends over time where the trends are not necessarily smooth but contain "join points". The method seems promising for fulfilling the first aim of the grant. We have also reviewed recent literature on methods and applications for discrete choice models, including enhancements to DCE models based on machine learning methods.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Abigail Danso Boahemaa, Ellen Goddard, Public Demand for Hemp Plastics as a Sustainable Single-Use Packaging Solution in Canada, paper presented at the Canadian Agricultural Economics Society Annual Meeting, July 2024, Winnipeg.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Zheng, Y., H. Lacasse, J. Kolodinsky, T. Mark, J. Buzzas, and C. Whitehouse. Marijuana Legalization, Hemp Policies and Demand for Hemp and Cannabinol Foods. Agricultural and Applied Economics Association Annual Meeting. New Orleans, LA. July 28-July 31, 2024