Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
The demand for organic rice in the U.S. exceeds domestic supply and leads to significant import competition. Organic rice in the U.S. faces a critical knowledge gap about the competitiveness and sustainability of its production practices and consumer preferences, which are the main barriers to increasing production, consumer satisfaction, and economic benefits.The long-term goal of this project is to facilitate the growth of organic rice production in the U.S. and foster the growth of the domestic market. The specific objectives of this project are (1) to identify and assess the economic impacts of the different production practices used in organic rice production in the U.S. and the barriers to expanding organic rice production, (2) to contribute to the expansion of the local demand for organic rice by improving our knowledge about consumer attitudes and valuation for organic rice attributes, and (3) to develop a multistate outreach program to disseminate the information generated by this project.We propose to use a mixed method approach that includes farmers' focus groups and surveys, and well-received state-of-the-art consumer behavior methods, which improves the robustness of the outcomes. Project activities and results will be disseminated through multiple channels, including interactive extension tools, presentations, and journal and news-paper publications, to guarantee that we are reaching the target audience effectively.By assessing the producer and consumer attitudes toward organic rice production and consumption, and indeitifying barriers to the adoption of organic rice in the U.S., this proposal addresses OREI's legislative goals 2, 5, and 7
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
100%
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The overarchinggoal of this project is to facilitate the growth of organic rice production in the U.S. and foster the growth of the domestic market. To achieve this, we propose to generate information about the adoption of production and marketing practices and the attitudes of consumers toward organic rice in the U.S. We will also develop a multi-state outreach program to ensure the outcomes of this project reach the relevant stakeholders and help foster sectoral growth.The specific goals of this project include:1. Identifying and assessing the economic impacts of the different production practices used in organic rice production in the U.S., and the barriers to expanding organic rice production, including perceived risks encountered by organic rice supply chain actors.2. Contributing to the expansion of the local demand for organic rice by improving the marketing strategies based on consumer attitudes and valuation for organic rice. This will lead to the development of better marketing approaches and opportunities for the U.S. organic rice industry that will increase production to serve the domestic demand in the future.3. Developing a multistate outreach program to disseminate the information generated by this project. This outreach component will deliver the information generated by this project to the relevant stakeholders and have a real impact on the growth and sustainability prospects of the organic rice industry in the U.S.
Project Methods
We will conduct focus groups with organic rice farmers and millers to inquire about crop management practices, marketing arrangements, production outcomes, socioeconomic conditions, production costs and receipts, and marketing costs. Specifically, we will assess the current management and economic situation of the organic rice supply chain, including the current adoption of organic rice production practices (e.g., cultural, biological, and mechanical practices), and crop management practices. We will also conduct cost-benefit analysis of the key value-chain stakeholders (e.g., millers, wholesalers, and retailers) to ascertain the distributions of benefits and risks throughout the supply chain. Organic rice production uses a variety of inputs and management approaches (e.g., green and animal manures, conservation tillage, and water seeding) that can lead to significant variations in rice enterprise budgets relative to conventional rice.We will follow the protocol used by the Agricultural & Food Policy Center (AFPC) at Texas A&M University to generate the Representative Farms, a database of agricultural operations representing the major agricultural production regions of the country. We will also use the Agricultural Resource Management (ARMS) Phase II and Phase III surveys as a reference to develop the focus group protocols.We will conduct four focus groups, two in California and two in Texas, the two largest organic rice-producing states in the U.S. The focus groups will include at least six members, four rice farmers and two millers. To make sure that participants represent the industry closely, we will seek advice from the advisory board, extension agents and industry representatives on the selection of participants.We will administer a survey of U.S. rice farmers (both organic and conventional farms) to assess their attitudes toward organic rice production practices, the regulatory system for organic certification, and the working of public programs aimed at adopting conservation practices. Based on these results, we will estimate an econometric model to analyze producers' adoption decisions. In this model, the dependent variable would represent the probability that the event (e.g. adoption of organic practices) will occur given the selected independent variables. The usefulness of this model for policy purposes lies in the selected independent variables, whose information will come from the survey. We will involve the advisory board in the development of the survey questions to ensure the relevance of the information gathered (e.g., variables selected can have an application in the design of strategies to improve the adoption of organic farming).We will conduct choice experiments to assess U.S. consumers' valuation for organic rice attributes. This method will be employed in five different regions of the U.S. to assess differences in consumer preferences and valuations across the regions. We will survey 300 consumers from each of the selected regional markets for a total of 1,500 consumers nationwide. We will rely on the services of survey companies such as SSI® and Research Now® to draw a representative sample of consumers and implement the online survey. The CE will test the following five attributes: production method (organic versus conventional), place of primary production, place of processing, type of sales outlet and price.The CE study will provide us estimates of consumers' valuation for the different attributes (and the combination of these attributes) of interest (e.g., organic labeling, effect of information about origin of organic rice) by region. The findings will not only help us estimate WTP for organic rice but also assess how valuations for organic rice can be influenced by socioeconomic variables, which will help design better, more targeted, marketing strategies.We propose to develop a multistate outreach program to disseminate the findings of this project to the target audience, that is, members of the U.S. organic rice supply chain, from input suppliers to retailers, and the general organic industry. The outreach plan has five components:1. Inclusion of organic rice into the agendas of the rice field days organized by the extension services in the leading rice-producing states, including Arkansas, California, and Texas in 2022, 2023, and 2024.2. Organization of an organic rice symposium at the 2022 and 2024 Rice Technical Working Group (RTWG) Meeting. RTWG meets at least biennially to provide for continuous exchange of information, cooperative planning, and periodic review of all phases of rice research and extension being carried on by the states, federal government, and cooperating agencies.3. Participation in industry and professional conferences and meetings to disseminate information about organic rice, including that generated by this project. We propose to have a stand and potentially organize a section at the Rice Market and Technology Convention (RMTC) in 2023 or 2024 to disseminate the findings of our study and more generally update the audience about organic rice.4. Publication of interactive applications developed during the project tenure (e.g., interactive organic rice budgets and representative organic rice farm models) in the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service webpage, websites of The Organic Center (TOC), and University of California Cooperative Extension.5. Collaborating with TOC to make use of their vast network of organic stakeholders, and expand our research communication efforts to a national level.