| Literature DB >> 31287848 |
Huan Dong1, Benjamin Campbell2, Adam N Rabinowitz3.
Abstract
Nowadays, consumers have become increasingly aware of their local food system as a result of concerning about health and nutrition, food safety and sustainability, and local economic development. This transitional shift from global to direct-to-consumer farm operations has increased the demand for locally produced foods. As an alternative, community supported agriculture (CSA), a direct and sustainable food channel, has gained tremendous popularity in the US. Despite the interest garnered by local agriculture and CSA, relatively few studies have empirically tested the determinants of why this marketing phenomenon has grown so rapidly. The purpose of this study is to explore the factors that drive producers to market their products through CSA by using a county-level data set from the US. Results using a Tobit model indicate that specific operator characteristics, such as young and female operators and those engaged in farming as primary occupation, play a strongly positive role in the likelihood of marketing through CSA; farms with small size, rented land, and engagement in growing vegetables, melons, fruits and tree nut crops are more interested in marketing via CSA; households with higher income and females significantly increase the share of farms marketing through CSA; presence of children and seniors and being married are negatively related to the demand for CSA foods. Moreover, counties with higher density of population, establishments-supermarket and other grocery stores, and legislation or active programs that encourage local food consumption tend to encourage more farms marketing through CSA.Entities:
Mesh:
Year: 2019 PMID: 31287848 PMCID: PMC6615704 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0219498
Source DB: PubMed Journal: PLoS One ISSN: 1932-6203 Impact factor: 3.240
Definition, summary statistics, and expected influence direction of variables used in analysis.
| Variables | Total | Sample | Influence direction | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Obs | Mean | Obs | Mean | ||
| Dependent variable | |||||
| Share of farms marketed through CSA to all farms | 6106 | 0.006 | 4587 | 0.007 | |
| Explanatory variables | |||||
| Farmer-side characteristics | |||||
| Percentage of farms which principal operator’s age is under 44 years | 6131 | 0.164 | 4587 | 0.163 | + |
| Percentage of farms which principal operator’s age is over 60 years | 6131 | 0.456 | 4587 | 0.454 | - |
| Percentage of women operators | 6128 | 0.299 | 4587 | 0.302 | + |
| Percentage of farms with size of 1–9 acres | 6131 | 0.096 | 4587 | 0.103 | + |
| Percentage of farms with size of 10–49 acres | 6131 | 0.262 | 4587 | 0.290 | + |
| Percentage of farms with size of 50–179 acres | 6131 | 0.295 | 4587 | 0.312 | ? |
| Percentage of farms classified for fruit and tree nut farming | 6131 | 0.032 | 4587 | 0.037 | + |
| Percentage of farms classified for vegetable and melon farming | 6131 | 0.022 | 4587 | 0.026 | + |
| Percentage of farms with their own land | 6129 | 0.676 | 4587 | 0.692 | ? |
| Percentage of farms with partial ownership of land | 6118 | 0.254 | 4587 | 0.243 | ? |
| Percentage of farms with rented land | 6096 | 0.073 | 4587 | 0.066 | ? |
| Percentage of farms which principal operator’s primary occupation is farming | 6123 | 0.471 | 4587 | 0.460 | + |
| Harvested acres of vegetables for sale | 4646 | 1888 | 4587 | 1908 | + |
| Consumer-side characteristics | |||||
| Median household income (dollar) | 6136 | 43613 | 4587 | 44271 | + |
| Percentage of female | 6132 | 0.502 | 4587 | 0.503 | + |
| Percentage of population that is 18 years and over with college or higher education | 6136 | 0.473 | 4587 | 0.475 | + |
| Average household size | 6136 | 2.504 | 4587 | 2.524 | ? |
| Percentage of population under 14 years | 6132 | 0.191 | 4587 | 0.193 | + |
| Percentage of population over 65 years | 6132 | 0.155 | 4587 | 0.149 | - |
| Percentage of married households | 6136 | 0.539 | 4587 | 0.533 | + |
| County and other characteristics | |||||
| Population per square mile | 6134 | 182.599 | 4587 | 172.017 | + |
| Number of establishments-supermarkets and other grocery stores per population | 6021 | 0.027 | 4587 | 0.023 | - |
Parameter estimates and average marginal effects from the Tobit model.
| Variable | Coefficient | P>t | Marginal Effect | P>z |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Farmer-side characteristics | ||||
| Percentage of farms which principal operator’s age is under 44 years | 0.036 | 0.000 | 1.132 | 0.000 |
| Percentage of farms which principal operator’s age is over 60 years | 0.007 | 0.085 | 0.222 | 0.085 |
| Percentage of women operators | 0.038 | 0.000 | 1.147 | 0.000 |
| Percentage of farms with size of 1–9 acres | 0.009 | 0.010 | 0.279 | 0.010 |
| Percentage of farms with size of 10–49 acres | 0.005 | 0.049 | 0.161 | 0.049 |
| Percentage of farms with size of 50–179 acres | 0.011 | 0.003 | 0.339 | 0.003 |
| Percentage of farms classified for fruit and tree nut farming | 0.010 | 0.002 | 0.316 | 0.002 |
| Percentage of farms classified for vegetable and melon farming | 0.044 | 0.000 | 1.388 | 0.000 |
| Percentage of farms with their own land | 0.015 | 0.107 | 0.465 | 0.107 |
| Percentage of farms with partial ownership of land | 0.013 | 0.184 | 0.407 | 0.184 |
| Percentage of farms with rented land | 0.039 | 0.000 | 1.226 | 0.000 |
| Percentage of farms which principal operator’s primary occupation is farming | 0.007 | 0.016 | 0.228 | 0.016 |
| Log (harvested acres of vegetables for sale) | -0.001 | 0.647 | -0.001 | 0.647 |
| Consumer-side characteristics | ||||
| Log (median household income [dollar]) | 0.004 | 0.014 | 0.132 | 0.014 |
| Percentage of female | 0.022 | 0.080 | 0.697 | 0.080 |
| Percentage of population that is 18 years and over with college or higher education | 0.002 | 0.441 | 0.082 | 0.441 |
| Average household size | -0.002 | 0.140 | -0.061 | 0.140 |
| Percentage of population under 14 years | -0.055 | 0.000 | -1.770 | 0.000 |
| Percentage of population over 65 years | -0.024 | 0.013 | -0.772 | 0.013 |
| Percentage of married households | -0.013 | 0.003 | -0.419 | 0.003 |
| County and other characteristics | ||||
| Population per square mile (in 1,000) | 4.57e-06 | 0.000 | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Number of establishments-supermarkets and other grocery stores per population | 0.083 | 0.000 | 2.635 | 0.000 |
| Number of obs = 4587 | ||||
| Log likelihood = 10716.098 | Prob > chi2 = 0.0000 | |||
| Pseudo R2 = -0.1111 | LR chi2(71) = 2142.28 | |||
We use Stata software to estimate the model results; dy/dx is for discrete change of dummy variable from 0 to 1.
Parameter estimates and average marginal effects of state effects (Vermont as Reference State, Reduced Edition).
| Variable | State Name | Coefficient | P>t | Marginal Effect | P>z |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| dum_st2 | Alaska | -0.004 | 0.545 | -0.138 | 0.567 |
| dum_st18 | Maine | 0.000 | 0.940 | 0.006 | 0.940 |
| dum_st20 | Massachusetts | 0.010 | 0.002 | 0.220 | 0.000 |
Hawaii is excluded from the analysis owing to lack of data.