Source: UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS submitted to
CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR U.S. ORGANIC RICE
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
ACTIVE
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1026719
Grant No.
2021-51300-34910
Cumulative Award Amt.
$456,111.00
Proposal No.
2021-02930
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Sep 1, 2021
Project End Date
Aug 31, 2025
Grant Year
2021
Program Code
[113.A]- Organic Agriculture Research & Extension Initiative
Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS
(N/A)
FAYETTEVILLE,AR 72703
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
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
100%
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
60115303010100%
Knowledge Area
601 - Economics of Agricultural Production and Farm Management;

Subject Of Investigation
1530 - Rice;

Field Of Science
3010 - Economics;
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.

Progress 09/01/23 to 08/31/24

Outputs
Target Audience:Thethirdyear's target audience was organic and conventional rice farmers.In the project's thirdyear, we conducted a rice producersurvey to ascertain (1) the return and cost structure of organic versus conventional rice, (2) organic farmers' opinions about organic rice production, their main challengesand benefits, including their view on current agricultural policies such as commodity title programs and crop insurance, (3) conventional rice farmers' perceptions about organic rice production, and (4) socioeconomic characteristics of organic and conventional rice farmers. The online producer survey was launched in the second year, but the success rate was very low. In year three we changed the strategy and hired a group of enumerators to conduct phone calls and texting. We built a rice producer's phone directory from different sources, amounting to more than 4,000 phone contacts. We invested three months and conducted over 6,000 phone calls in total. In total, 141 surveys were completed, of which only 13 came from organic rice farmers. Moreover, because participants had the option of not answering specific questions, many chose not to answer key parts of the survey despite the enumerators' prompting. Changes/Problems:Unfortunately, despite our efforts, we were unable to collect the target number (300) of producer surveys that would have allowed us to conduct a thorough econometric analysis of the drivers of organic rice adoption. This was an important part of our project, and the research team feels disappointed that we were not able to deliver it. Because of the challengediscussed above, we are doubling our effort to ascertain producers' perceptions through the use of focus groups. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We shared our focus group findings with participants, which included organic rice farmers and millers. We presented a paper about consumer preferences for organic rice at the Western Agricultural Economic Association meeting in San Francisco. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the last year of the project, we plan to: Conduct one last round of producer focus groups to share our findings with participants and gather information that will help us finish building the representative farm models. Finish building the representative farm models and organic rice budgets Conduct another online consumer survey to better understand the driver of consumer preferences for organic rice using the Means-End-Chain approach. Conduct a Webinar series and prepare online materials to present and discuss the findings of the project among organic stakeholders

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? We conducted a producer survey to support goal 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). Unfortunately, due to the sparsity of the data (respondents chose not to answer important parts of the survey), we cannot conduct an econometric analysis of the drivers of organic rice adoption. We are analyzing the data to see what valuable information can be retrieved from it. Also, we are finalizing the organic representative farm models, which will support goal 1. We are planning to conduct a last round of focus groups in year four to conclude our field activities. We have two papers under review looking at consumer preferences for organic rice.

Publications


    Progress 09/01/22 to 08/31/23

    Outputs
    Target Audience:In the project's second year, we conducted one focus groupwith organic rice farmers and millers to inquire about crop management practices, marketing arrangements, production outcomes, production costs and receipts, and marketing costs. We also launched the rice producer survey aimed at estimating the drivers of adoption of organic rice production. We also conducted a consumer survey to understand US consumer preferences when it comes to choosing the rice they eat. That said, this secondyear's target audience was organic rice farmers and millers, and US consumers. We shared the preliminary results from the focus group activities with participating farmers and millers to get their feedback before preparing the enterprise budgets and representative farm models. We also engaged a group of rice farmers in testing our producer survey to ensure it is clear and succinct. Changes/Problems:One of the major challenges we faced in year 2 was the lack of response to our online producer survey. We advertised the survey in prominent places (e.g., rice field agendas), but unfortunately, we got very few completed responses. We spent significant resources developing a phone survey, which we expect will yield the target number of 300 completed responses. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Preliminary results from the focus groups with organic rice farmers were shared with participants to get their feedback as we develop the enterprise budgets and farm models. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the third year, we plan to conduct the producer survey. We hired 5 enumerators, whoareundergoing training. Furthermore, we are developing all the material to launch the phone survey in January of 2024. We will complete building the organic rice enterprise budgets and representative farm models. We will complete the analysis of the consumer survey already conducted in the Fall of 2023, and conduct another consumer survey to assess more deeply the preferences for choosing organic rice. We expect to present the findings of this project in different venues such as rice field days and rice conferences.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? In the second year of the proejct we accomplished the following: In goal 1, we conducted another round of focus groups, and are in the process of building the enterprise budgets and representative farm models. The producer survey is going to be re-launched by phone in the Winter of 2024, which will provide valuable information to finalize the budgets and farm models. In goal 2, we conducted a survey of a representative sample of 1000 US consumers to find out more about their rice consumption habits and rice consumption preferences. We are processing the data and preparing a draft for a peer-reviewed publication. We are developing the material for another consumer survey aimed at knowing in more detail their motivations for choosing organic rice. In goal 3, we keep updating our project'swebpage (https://organic-center.org/site/challenges-and-opportunities-us-organic-rice). We are also working of a number of venues where we will present the results of this study. We are in talks with the organizers of the Rice Marketing and Technology Convention to have a space in their annual conference. We are also seeking to get into the rice field agendas in Arkansas, Texas, and California to disseminate our findings.

    Publications


      Progress 09/01/21 to 08/31/22

      Outputs
      Target Audience:In the first year of the project, we conducted two focus groups with organic rice farmers and millers to inquire about crop management practices, marketing arrangements, production outcomes, production costs and receipts, and marketing costs. The marketing conditions in 2022 are characterized by high input costs, which may result in changes in management practices relative to a more normal year. For that reason, we decided to split the focus groups into 2022 and 2023. Next year we will conduct at least two more focus group activities to complete the proposed activities under objective 1.1. With that said, the target audience this first year was primarily organic rice farmers and millers. We shared the preliminary results with participating farmers and millers to get their feedback in preparation for our second round of focus groups in 2023. The feedback we received from them was overwelmingly positive. Changes/Problems:The 2022 market situation, characterized primarily by very high input prices, led us to change our activities for year 1. The original plan was to conduct all focus groups in year 1, but given the market conditions we decided that it would be better to split these activities out into year 2 to hopefully ameliorate the potential impact of high input prices on organic rice farming activities. We hope the market conditions go back to a more normal state next year so we can conclude the focus group activities and generate the expected output. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have not released any informaiton to the public yet, but shared the preliminary findings from our focus groups with the aprticipants to get their feedback before publishing the information. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Year two will be the most intensive in terms of activities. We plan to conduct the two remaining (but hopefully more) focus groups and build the organic rice budgets and representative farm models. We also expect to finish developing the survey protocol and launch the producer survey, and at least conduct preliminary analysis of the results. We also plan to finish the consumer survey protocols, launch the surveys, and conduct the preliminary analysis of the results. Finally, we expect to keep updating the public about all these activities through the project website.

      Impacts
      What was accomplished under these goals? The activities this first year were centered on goal 1. In particular, we conducted two focus groups with organic rice farmers and millers in Texas and California. While the target was to conduct the four focus groups in year 1, we decided to split them into 2 years to mitigatethe potential impact of high input prices in 2022 that could lead to changes in management practices. We developed preliminary budgets for organic rice, and are writing a working paper to report the main production and economic characteristics of organic rice production in Texas and California. Looking forward, we have already scheduled to conduct a focus group in El Campo, Texas, in January 2023, and are already planning to schedule another focus group in California in the Summer of 2023.Also related to goal 1, we aredeveloping the producer survey that will be deployed in Spring-Summer 2023. Related to goal 3, we started promoting the project through the creation of a webpage (https://organic-center.org/site/challenges-and-opportunities-us-organic-rice) to keep the public informed about the progress of this project. Regarding goal 2, we also started developing the consumer survey protocols and expect to launch thesurveys in the Fall of 2023.

      Publications