Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
G022 MCCARTY HALL
GAINESVILLE,FL 32611
Performing Department
Food and Resource Economics
Non Technical Summary
Agriculture is an important industry in the state of Florida where, in 2017 Census of Agriculture, there were 47,000 commercial ranches and farms farming 9.45 million acres (Hudson 2019), and, in a 2020 impact study, the agricultural industry was employing 1.4 million people and contributing $131 billion to the state's economy (Feeding the Economy 2020). In addition to tourism and construction industries, the agricultural industry is considered as part of a core portfolio of industries. As such, the Florida Chamber of Commerce has committed to continue building these core industries to complement other emerging industries (Florida Chamber of Commerce 2020). Both the Florida Jobs 2030 Initiative developed by the Florida Chamber Foundation and the Florida Department of Agricultural and Consumer Services (FDACS) Long Range Program Plan for fiscal years 2021-2026 have similar goals of increasing the competitive strength of Florida's agriculture to meet the needs of a growing population.In 2017, Florida's agriculture ranked among the top in the nation by value of production in cucumbers, grapefruits, oranges, squash, sugarcane, fresh market snap beans, and fresh market tomatoes. Florida's production of bell peppers, strawberries, watermelons, fresh market cabbage, fresh market sweet corn, and peanuts are also among the top in the nation by value of production (FDACS 2017). The livestock industry in the state is also a significant part of the economy contributing $1.5 billion annually across beef, goats, horses, poultry, swine, and other specialty livestock (IFAS 2019). According to the 2017 Census of Agriculture, there were 21,469 operations with over 2.5 million head of cattle in inventory. Goats, a small ruminant, is also an emerging industry in the state with 61,159 head, a rise from the 52,052 head in the 2012 census. In support of the animal industry, veterinarians and animal health inspectors provide crucial services around the state to ensure the health and welfare of Florida's animals along with public health (i.e. food safety and security) and environmental health (i.e., environment-associated diseases). Other secondary sectors for animal production support activities include animal food manufacturing, wholesale distributors of livestock, meat and dairy products, and retail food stores which also represent a significant part of the state's economy (Hodges et al. 2017; 2019).The producers of agricultural products and services must take into consideration the perceptions, preferences, and behaviors of the buyer. As agribusiness decision makers bring new food and agricultural products and services to the market, it is important to assess the consumers' perceptions, preferences, and willingness to pay for the new products; especially to respond to new industry trends and growing demand for innovative products or services. With FDACS' stated primary service objective to "increase the market penetration of Florida agricultural products in national and international markets", the proposed project herein is a timely project through its investigation of marketing opportunities of Florida agribusiness (Nicole Fried 2020). The goal of this research project is to investigate strategies that can help maintain the competitiveness of agribusiness producers, managers, and farm operators and allow them to deliver products and/or services that align with the needs and preferences of purchasers and/or end consumers.
Animal Health Component
75%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
20%
Applied
75%
Developmental
5%
Goals / Objectives
The producers of agricultural products and services must take into consideration the perceptions, preferences, and behaviors of the buyer. As agribusiness decision makers bring new food and agricultural products and services to the market, it is important to assess the consumers' perceptions, preferences, and willingness to pay for the new products; especially to respond to new industry trends and growing demand for innovative products or services. With FDACS' stated primary service objective to "increase the market penetration of Florida agricultural products in national and international markets", the proposed project herein is a timely project through its investigation of marketing opportunities of Florida agribusiness (Nicole Fried 2020). The goal of this research project is to investigate strategies that can help maintain the competitiveness of agribusiness producers, managers, and farm operators and allow them to deliver products and/or services that align with the needs and preferences of purchasers and/or end consumers.ObjectivesInvestigate knowledge gaps among agribusiness operators and managers to improve educational programming and increase resilience of businesses in the agricultural industry and secondary sectors.Investigate rapid shifts or turbulence in markets and changes in business environment faced by businesses in the agricultural industry.Examine consumer demand for novel agribusiness products and attributes to inform marketing and pricing strategies for agribusinesses in the supply chain.Understand the public perceptions of agribusinesses and the roles and services that are provided to consumers to identify marketing opportunities and management strategies for agribusinesses.
Project Methods
To address the objectives in this project, data will be collected through techniques involving survey instruments distributed via post, online, or a combination of the two following the Dillman (1978) total design method whenever applicable. Additional data collection techniques include interviews, focus groups, and respondent intercepts surveys. Questionnaires will be designed using best practices applicable to the collection of data from agribusiness owners, operators, and managers. Survey instrument design may also involve input from UF/IFAS field experts, industry experts, and subject matter experts, as needed to enhance survey design and data collection. Data collected will include demographic information (for example: age, gender, income, education) for the purposes of benchmarking representativeness of the sample. Surveys can be hosted on Qualtrics or other survey platforms to allow access to respondents or distributed using printed versions. This project will also rely on facilities available through the University of Florida such as on-campus facilities, Research and Education centers, the Economic Experiment Laboratory, and the Food Sensory Lab.Surveys will elicit information about respondents' attitudes, perceptions, and preferences over key variables related to producer and consumers. In addition to Likert-scale ratings (such as for look, feel, taste, smell) and ranking of items in a set (such as from highest to lowest preference), a choice experiment is a common tool used in the collection information about respondents. Some examples of this include a discrete choice and best worst scaling, which allow consumer and producer preferences to be measured and, ultimately, willingness to pay (WTP) or willingness to accept (WTA) to be calcualted. Other tools include conjoint analysis, contingent valuation, hedonic pricing, and travel cost methods. These tools fall under the categories of revealed preference methods or stated preference methods. Data collected from the surveys can be analyzed using common statistical or econometric techniques such as regression analysis. For example, with choice experiment data, a standard random parameter logit (RPL) regression can be used to calculate marginal utilities in which consumer and producer preferences are assumed to be heterogeneous. The latent class analysis (LCA) approach can also be used to determine segments of consumers that exist and covariates will be added from the demographic and other usage behavior questions in the survey to understand what factors influence the preferences and WTP or WTA (Adamowicz, et al., 1998, Boxall and Adamowicz, 2002, Lusk and Briggeman, 2009, Lusk and Hudson, 2004, Ortega, et al., 2011). The class sizes, Akaike Information Criterion, and Bayesian Information Criterion will be used to help determine the optimal number of classes (Hensher, et al., 2005, Lusk, et al., 2003).