Previous studies using consumer surveys based on contingent valuations gave inconsistent or even contradictory results with respect to the impact of some consumer characteristics on organic foods consumption. Using actual retail-level data, this study provides an objective view of the consumers' social economic characteristics related to the growth of the fresh organic produce market with a generalized double hurdle model. Market participation and conditional|unconditional consumption elasticities were computed for the generalized double hurdle model. [EconLit citations: C240, D120, Q110]. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The increasing costs of agricultural programs is raising concern about the future direction of agricultural policies. Data from a nationwide survey on public attitudes toward agriculture are used to examine the structure of citizens' preferences for government involvement in agriculture and especially for policies to protect family farms. Estimates of the influence of economic and sociodemographic variables on policy preferences are computed using a multiple‐indicator model. Signs and magnitudes of estimated coefficients lend support to the self‐interest theory of voter behavior. Results question economic arguments suggesting altruistic motives as a cause of redistributionary agricultural policies.

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Farmland offered for its productive or consumptive value may be viewed as a class of goods characteristic of product differentiation. Using the generalized Box-Cox transformation, an unrestricted hedonic model was employed to derive implicit valuations of parcel attributes. Results suggest that the significance and level of importance of attributes on land pricing depends on the spatial extent of markets in Georgia. Differences in the productive or consumptive use of farmland may imply that different factors and functional forms are appropriate to different farmland markets.

Using AC Nielsen scanner data on U.S. household consumption of selected fresh vegetables from 1999 to 2003, this study provides an overview of the organic fresh vegetable market by investigating market shares and price premiums of selected organic fresh vegetables and estimating the interrelationship between consumer demand for organic and conventional fresh vegetables. The linear Almost Ideal Demand System was found to fit the data best among other differential demand models.