Food Consumption Attitudes and Behaviors in Grant County

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FOOD CONSUMPTION ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIORS IN GRANT COUNTY:
A REPORT ON A CONSUMER SURVEY CONDUCTED IN 2002

Frequency of Selected Food Consumption Behaviors (Percentage)
	How often do you…	Once a Month or Less	2-3 Times a Month	About Once a Week	2-3 Times a Week or More
-	Shop for Food at Retail Outlets	2.04	15.51	35.51	46.94
-	Serve Prepared Foods at Home	37.70	23.36	25.00	13.94
-	Eat out for Dinner or Main Meal	37.04	26.34	27.16	9.47

Frequency of Selected Food Shopping Behaviors (Percentage)
	How often do you shop at…	Once a Month or Less	2-3 Times a Month	About Once a Week	2-3 Times a Week or More
-	Grocery Stores	0.41	6.12	17.55	75.91
-	Discount Stores	7.00	40.74	19.75	32.51
-	Convenience Stores	44.26	29.92	6.97	18.86
-	Food Cooperatives	85.90	10.26	0.85	2.99
-	Farmers' Markets	52.87	27.87	9.02	10.25
-	Roadside Stands	57.02	35.54	4.55	2.89
-	U-Pick Farms	86.01	11.11	2.06	0.82
-	Directly from Farmers	72.20	18.67	4.15	4.98
-	CSAs or Subscription Agriculture	93.16	3.85	1.71	1.28

Reasons Given for "NEVER" Shopping at a Farmers' Market (Percentage, if respondent answered "never" to item about Farmers' Market above)
	Why I do not shop at ...	Food is Expensive	Times are Inconvenient	Parking is Inadequate	No Such Outlet Nearby	Other Reason
-	a Farmers' Market	1.56	23.44	2.08	41.67	31.25

Familiarity with "Consumer Supported Agriculture" (CSAs) (Percentage, if respondent answered "never" to item about CSAs above)
	My awareness of ...	Very Familiar	Somewhat Familiar	Not Familiar	Don't Know	Skipped/ Refused
-	CSAs is	3.67	10.20	74.69	0.41	11.02

Knowledge of Food Origin (Percentage)
	How often do you know if the food you buy was...	Never	Rarely	Sometimes	Often
-	Grown or produced locally	12.70	25.82	40.98	20.49

Expressed Preference for Food Shopping Behaviors
	Do you prefer to shop at ...	Percent Responding "Yes"
-	Grocery Stores	93.47
-	Discount Stores	82.38
-	Convenience Stores	14.75
-	Food Cooperatives	7.93
-	Farmers' Markets	49.58
-	Roadside Stands	37.66
-	U-Pick Farms	22.69
-	CSAs or Subscription Agriculture	14.60
-	Directly from Farmers	34.60
-	Somewhere Else	13.39

Purchases Made Directly from Farmers (a Farmers' Market, CSAs, Roadside Stands, etc.)
	During last six months I have directly purchased ...	Percent Responding "Yes"
-	Fresh Fruits	56.73
-	Fresh Vegetables	52.65
-	Poultry	8.16
-	Beef	13.88
-	Pork	11.02
-	Lamb	2.04
-	Eggs	17.96
-	Dairy Products (e.g., Cheese/Yogurt)	11.43
-	Processed Foods (e.g., Jam/Salsa)	16.73
-	Other Foods	15.51

Interest in Buying [more] Directly from Farmers (a Farmers' Market, CSAs, Roadside Stands, etc.) (Percentage, [more] added if respondent answered that they already make direct purchases of an item above)
	How interested are you in buying ...	Not Interested		Somewhat Interested		Very Interested		No Opinion
-	Fresh Fruits	10.61		31.43		46.53		11.43
-	Fresh Vegetables	9.80		35.51		48.16		6.53
-	Poultry	53.11		25.73		12.45		8.71
-	Beef	48.15		27.98		17.28		6.58
-	Pork	53.91		24.28		14.81		7.00
-	Other Meats	81.07		9.05		2.06		7.82
-	Eggs	44.86		29.63		19.34		6.17
-	Dairy Products (e.g., Cheese/Yogurt)	54.32		22.22		18.11		5.35
-	Processed Foods (e.g., Jam/Salsa)	54.73		26.34		14.81		4.12

Factors Utilized by Shoppers When Shopping for Food (Percentage)
	When shopping, how interested are you in ...	Not Important		Somewhat Important			Very Important		Don't Know
-	Nutritional Value	4.49		22.45			73.06		NA
-	Availability of Name Brands	37.86		46.09			16.05		NA
-	Year Round Availability	11.71		42.26			46.03		NA
-	Price	5.71		28.98			65.31		NA
-	Taste	1.63		10.61			87.86		NA
-	Appearance	6.12		30.20			63.67		NA
-	Variety	4.90		35.92			59.18		NA
-	Available Where Normally Shop	3.27		18.78			77.96		NA
-	Produced Locally	12.39		57.44			30.17		NA
-	Freshness	2.04		4.08			93.88		NA
-	Organically Grown	44.63		43.39			11.98		NA
-	Easy to Prepare	17.96		43.27			38.78		NA
-	Grown in Washignton State	11.89		45.08			43.03		NA
-	Grown in Environmentally Friendly Manner	16.25		38.33			45.42		NA
-	Keeps Local Farmers in Business	3.29		21.81			74.90		NA
-	Comes From Grass-Fed Livestock	35.92		34.69			14.29		15.10
-	Comes From Humanely Treated Livestock	13.47		29.39			48.98		8.16

Willingness to Pay for Local Foods (Percentage)
	If they are available, how much extra are you willing to pay for ...	Not Willing to Pay More	10% More	25% More	50% More
-	Locally grown or produced foods	27.39	54.35	16.52	1.74

Knowledge of How Food is Produced (Percentage)
	How often do you buy foods that are ...	Never	Less than Once a Month	Monthly	Weekly
-	Organically grown	46.02	31.86	15.49	6.64

Attitudes Toward Farm Policy and the Environment (Percentage)
		Strongly Agree		Agree		Dont' Know/ Neither		Disagree		Strongly Disagree
-	Labeling products as "Grown in WA" would benefit WA farmers	61.89		31.15		4.51		1.64		0.82
-	Maintaining family farms is important to my county's future	72.65		17.14		6.53		2.45		1.22
-	Agr'l Free Trade Agreements are beneficial to consumer	30.86		32.10		22.22		7.00		7.82
-	The general public appreciates what farmers do for land stewardship	31.97		33.20		13.52		12.70		8.61
-	Farmers should be paid to participate in wildlife protection programs	42.80		34.57		9.88		9.88		2.88
-	Local Gov't should restrict non-agr'l development in ag. areas	45.49		27.46		9.84		9.43		7.79
-	Environmental risks of GMO products are not well understood	51.44		25.93		13.17		5.35		4.12
-	It is better to avoid eating foods that contain GMO products	25.62		22.73		25.62		15.70		10.33
-	Foods should have lables that identify if they have GMO ingredients	62.96		16.46		9.88		6.58		4.12
-	Foods should have labels that identify where they are grown	62.04		28.98		2.86		4.90		1.22

Food/Consumer Cooperative Participation (Percentage)
	Are you currently a member of ...	Current Member	Not a Member, Interested	Not a Member, Not Interested
-	a food or consumer cooperative	2.48	32.64	64.88

Self-Provisioning of Food (Percentage)
	Last year, someone in my household ...	Percent Responding "Yes"
-	Had a vegetable garden	48.57
-	Grew fruit	38.37
	Our interest, over the next five years in growing...	Not Interested	Somewhat Interested	Very Interested
-	More of our own food	29.46	26.56	43.98

Characteristics of Respondents
		Percent Responding "Yes"
-	Whether children are in household	53.50
-	Whether respondent ever worked on a farm	57.61
-	Whether parents farmed during childhood	50.21

Participation in Community Groups/Organizations
	Last year, I attended a meeting for or held membership in ...	Once or Twice
-	Rotary, Lions or other Civic Organizations	8.61
-	School Related Organization (e.g., parent-teacher group)	26.64
-	Local Church	59.43
-	Local Sports Club	25.21
-	Local Government	15.16
-	Local Environmental Organization	8.20
-	State or National Political Organization	8.47
-	State or National Environmental Organization	5.33

Respondent's Gender (Column Totals 100 Percent)
-	Male	30.61
-	Female	69.39

Respondent's Ethnic Background (Column Totals 100 Percent)
-	Spanish, Hispanic, Latino, Chicano	10.44
-	Black, African American	0.80
-	American Indian	5.62
-	Asian	0.40
-	White, not Hispanic	79.52
-	Other	3.21

Highest Level of Education Completed by Respondent (Column Totals 100 Percent)
-	Less Than High School Degree	5.76
-	High School Degree	22.22
-	Some College	36.21
-	Vocational College	8.23
-	College Degree	20.16
-	Some Postgraduate Work	2.47
-	Postgraduate Degree	4.94

Household Income Before Taxes in 2001 (Column Totals 100 Percent)
-	Less Than $15,000	8.16
-	$15,000 to $24,999	17.55
-	$25,000 tp $49,999	33.06
-	$50,000 to $99,999	26.53
-	$100,000 to $249,999	3.67
-	$250,000 or More	0.00
-	Don't Know/Refusal	11.03

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