Faced with reduced domestic supply, competition from imports, and high production costs, the Florida citrus industry and Florida growers need to understand how consumers perceive Florida-produced orange juice and whether they value it more than OJ produced elsewhere. We conducted a national survey to understand consumers' perceptions and confirmed that consumers have a superior perception of Florida OJ, which could lead to higher rates of willingness-to-buy and willingness-to-pay.

While food biotechnology has been widely applied and benefited the food and agriculture sector, community acceptance of biotechnology is still low. The factors that drive consumer rejection of food biotechnology have been well studied, but knowledge on the factors that drive willingness to purchase, particularly on an international level, is limited. This study aims to identify driving factors for respondents’ willingness to purchase fresh fruit produced with biotechnology, using an international survey conducted in the US, Canada, UK, France, and South Korea. While the overall willingness to purchase biotechnology produced fruit is low across countries, French consumers have the highest rate of willingness to purchase biotechnology produced fresh fruit among studied countries, followed by South Korea. The factors influencing respondents’ willingness to purchase include demographics, lifestyle, and shopping behavior. While respondents behave differently across countries, factors like environmental awareness, self-reported healthiness, and habits of eating away from home, have been found to enhance the willingness to purchase biotechnology produced fruit across countries.

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The Florida orange juice industry has experienced great challenges—declining orange juice consumption and a domestic supply shortage that has led to increasing imports over the past decade. As growers look for a foothold, the question remains whether it is better to continue promoting orange juice (OJ) sales by focusing on the Florida “brand” or whether orange juice, in general, should be promoted using a federal marketing program. This study aims to identify the value of promoting “Florida” on OJ products to help the industry understand the potential benefits of enhancing the image of “Florida” in consumers’ perceptions of OJ.

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