Food Consumption Attitudes and Behaviors in Skagit County

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FOOD CONSUMPTION ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIORS IN SKAGIT 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	2.95	12.66	38.82	45.56
-	Serve Prepared Foods at Home	31.91	32.34	23.83	11.91
-	Eat out for Dinner or Main Meal	30.21	27.66	29.79	12.34

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	0.00	7.20	16.10	76.69
-	Discount Stores	11.81	46.84	27.00	14.35
-	Convenience Stores	44.68	25.96	12.34	17.03
-	Food Cooperatives	67.66	20.43	4.68	7.23
-	Farmers' Markets	52.74	31.22	5.91	10.13
-	Roadside Stands	38.40	39.24	10.97	11.39
-	U-Pick Farms	74.26	20.68	2.53	2.53
-	Directly from Farmers	60.17	27.12	5.93	6.78
-	CSAs or Subscription Agriculture	86.46	7.86	1.31	4.37

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	2.59	27.46	2.59	30.57	36.79

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	2.53	11.81	69.20	0.00	16.46

Knowledge of Food Origin (Percentage)
	How often do you know if the food you buy was...	Never	Rarely	Sometimes	Often
-	Grown or produced locally	5.53	14.89	42.55	37.02

Expressed Preference for Food Shopping Behaviors
	Do you prefer to shop at ...	Percent Responding "Yes"
-	Grocery Stores	94.49
-	Discount Stores	73.00
-	Convenience Stores	17.95
-	Food Cooperatives	27.43
-	Farmers' Markets	43.35
-	Roadside Stands	46.32
-	U-Pick Farms	26.07
-	CSAs or Subscription Agriculture	16.06
-	Directly from Farmers	37.66
-	Somewhere Else	12.55

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	64.56
-	Fresh Vegetables	61.60
-	Poultry	7.59
-	Beef	13.50
-	Pork	8.02
-	Lamb	2.11
-	Eggs	24.47
-	Dairy Products (e.g., Cheese/Yogurt)	13.92
-	Processed Foods (e.g., Jam/Salsa)	20.25
-	Other Foods	15.19

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	13.56		33.47		46.19		6.78
-	Fresh Vegetables	14.77		32.07		48.10		5.06
-	Poultry	65.52		18.53		10.34		5.60
-	Beef	62.13		20.43		13.62		3.83
-	Pork	67.23		18.30		10.21		4.26
-	Other Meats	82.55		8.09		5.53		3.83
-	Eggs	44.49		27.54		24.15		3.81
-	Dairy Products (e.g., Cheese/Yogurt)	52.34		27.23		17.87		2.55
-	Processed Foods (e.g., Jam/Salsa)	52.97		28.39		15.25		3.39

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	3.80		19.83		76.37		NA
-	Availability of Name Brands	43.04		40.93		16.03		NA
-	Year Round Availability	13.50		44.73		41.77		NA
-	Price	7.17		31.65		61.18		NA
-	Taste	0.85		7.17		91.98		NA
-	Appearance	4.64		32.49		62.87		NA
-	Variety	5.06		43.04		51.90		NA
-	Available Where Normally Shop	3.80		23.63		72.57		NA
-	Produced Locally	13.56		49.15		37.29		NA
-	Freshness	0.84		4.64		94.51		NA
-	Organically Grown	39.83		42.37		17.80		NA
-	Easy to Prepare	20.34		41.95		37.71		NA
-	Grown in Washignton State	14.34		45.15		40.51		NA
-	Grown in Environmentally Friendly Manner	11.69		38.96		49.35		NA
-	Keeps Local Farmers in Business	6.33		24.47		69.20		NA
-	Comes From Grass-Fed Livestock	35.44		31.65		19.41		13.50
-	Comes From Humanely Treated Livestock	16.88		21.10		52.32		9.70

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	26.61	48.93	21.89	2.58

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	32.19	27.47	24.03	16.31

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	58.23		35.44		4.22		1.27		0.84
-	Maintaining family farms is important to my county's future	75.53		17.30		5.91		0.84		0.42
-	Agr'l Free Trade Agreements are beneficial to consumer	30.77		30.34		32.48		2.99		3.42
-	The general public appreciates what farmers do for land stewardship	39.41		26.69		13.14		13.98		6.78
-	Farmers should be paid to participate in wildlife protection programs	50.64		27.23		12.34		3.40		6.38
-	Local Gov't should restrict non-agr'l development in ag. areas	57.02		25.96		6.81		4.68		5.53
-	Environmental risks of GMO products are not well understood	56.12		28.69		7.17		2.53		5.49
-	It is better to avoid eating foods that contain GMO products	39.15		24.26		25.11		6.38		5.11
-	Foods should have lables that identify if they have GMO ingredients	75.85		14.41		4.24		2.97		2.54
-	Foods should have labels that identify where they are grown	71.31		23.21		2.53		1.69		1.27

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	19.66	27.35	52.99

Self-Provisioning of Food (Percentage)
	Last year, someone in my household ...	Percent Responding "Yes"
-	Had a vegetable garden	43.46
-	Grew fruit	48.10
	Our interest, over the next five years in growing...	Not Interested	Somewhat Interested	Very Interested
-	More of our own food	28.39	28.81	42.80

Characteristics of Respondents
		Percent Responding "Yes"
-	Whether children are in household	41.77
-	Whether respondent ever worked on a farm	41.77
-	Whether parents farmed during childhood	34.60

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	7.23
-	School Related Organization (e.g., parent-teacher group)	22.88
-	Local Church	40.25
-	Local Sports Club	16.95
-	Local Government	11.81
-	Local Environmental Organization	16.88
-	State or National Political Organization	7.23
-	State or National Environmental Organization	13.68

Respondent's Gender (Column Totals 100 Percent)
-	Male	33.76
-	Female	66.24

Respondent's Ethnic Background (Column Totals 100 Percent)
-	Spanish, Hispanic, Latino, Chicano	4.13
-	Black, African American	1.24
-	American Indian	2.48
-	Asian	1.65
-	White, not Hispanic	89.26
-	Other	1.24

Highest Level of Education Completed by Respondent (Column Totals 100 Percent)
-	Less Than High School Degree	3.81
-	High School Degree	22.88
-	Some College	29.24
-	Vocational College	8.05
-	College Degree	21.61
-	Some Postgraduate Work	4.24
-	Postgraduate Degree	10.17

Household Income Before Taxes in 2001 (Column Totals 100 Percent)
-	Less Than $15,000	10.97
-	$15,000 to $24,999	10.97
-	$25,000 tp $49,999	27.85
-	$50,000 to $99,999	28.69
-	$100,000 to $249,999	7.17
-	$250,000 or More	0.42
-	Don't Know/Refusal	13.93

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