Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Interis, Matthew G.

Committee Member

Harri, Ardian

Committee Member

Hood, Kenneth W.

Committee Member

Morgan, Kimberly L.

Date of Degree

8-15-2014

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Agricultural Economics

Degree Name

Master of Science

College

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Department

Department of Agricultural Economics

Abstract

In a world with diverse consumer preferences, it can be challenging for producers to determine marketing strategies and production practices that maximize their profits while meeting consumer demand for fresh products. Consumers could be willing to pay for products that reduce environmental impact, but producers must know whether these changes will pay off. This study estimated consumers’ willingness to pay for specific environmental factors pertaining to fresh tomato production using a choice experiment survey. This study found that Southeastern consumers are willing to pay a price premium for specific environmental factors: water conservation, reduced pesticide residue, fewer miles between production location and purchase location, and tomatoes grown without petroleum-based fertilizers. The results of this study are beneficial to regional tomato producers, who could incorporate specific environmental practices into current production schedules that lead to incremental changes in the environmental attributes that were evaluated in this survey.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/19843

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