Sustainable food consumption has attracted widespread attention over the last decades by scholars, policy makers and consumers. In line with this, farmers' markets (FMs) have the potential to encourage sustainable agricultural production and consumption. By reducing the number of actors and distances along the food chain, these alternative food systems foster the reconnection between farmers and consumers and contribute to different social, economic and environmentally sustainable goals. This paper provides insights into how consumers' sustainability concerns are related to their motivation for shopping at FMs. By means of a choice experiment, we analyze the determinants of consumers' preferences for buying apples at FMs. We are particularly interested in understanding how attitudes towards the three sustainability dimensions are related to consumer preferences in this context. We find that consumer attitudes towards direct contact with producers, contributing to farmers' income, and environmental benefits, can be directly related to product characteristics that are specific to FMs.

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Air pollution is one of the top environmental concerns in China. On days with severe air pollution, people (both consumers and producers) often reduce outdoor economic activities in order to avoid possible health damages. This impacts the market trade of fresh food products, at least in a short run. This empirical study sheds light on the impact of air pollution on the short run prices of three major fresh food products (Chinese cabbage, tomatoes and pork) using daily data from the largest outdoor wholesale market in Beijing. With an increase in AQI (Air Quality Index) by 100 units, prices for Chinese cabbage and tomatoes decrease by 1.19 and 0.89 per cent. With an increase in PM2.5 concentration by 100 lg/m 3 , prices for Chinese cabbage and tomatoes decrease by 0.64 and 0.55 per cent. Air pollution affects vegetable prices, but has no significant impact on prices of pork products.

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