New research coming out of the University of Connecticut is showing that consumers that are altruistic (e.g. care about others) and biospheric (e.g. care about the environment) are more likely to purchase local over organic, while consumers that are more egoistic (e.g. care more about themselves) are more likely to purchase organic over local.
This transformation seems to indicate that organic purchasers are focusing on safety attributes, notably less pesticide residue, which would have a direct impact on the consumer.
Local, on the other hand, seems to be expanding to fill the role of environmental stewardship, while also helping the community. The continued evolution of local and organic will be interesting over the next couple of years.
To learn how the terms local and organic are impacting produce-purchasing decisions, see the December 2013 issue of Produce Grower.
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