Sustainability 2009, 1(3), 464-478; doi:10.3390/su1030464
Article

U.S. Demand for Organic and Conventional Fresh Fruits: The Roles of Income and Price

Biing-Hwan Lin 1 email, Steven T. Yen 2 email, Chung L. Huang 3 email and Travis A. Smith 1,* email
1 Economic Research Service, US Department of Agriculture, 1800 M Street NW, Washington, DC, 20036-5831, USA 2 Department of Agricultural Economics, The University of Tennessee, 2621 Morgan Circle, Knoxville, TN, 37996-4518, USA 3 Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, 313-E Conner Hall, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602-7509, USA
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 17 July 2009 / Accepted: 10 August 2009 / Published: 14 August 2009
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Renewable Agriculture)
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Abstract: Using retail purchase data reported by Nielsen’s Homescan panel this study investigates the U.S. demand for organic and conventional fresh fruits. The study fills an important research void by estimating the much needed income and price elasticities for organic and conventional fruits utilizing a censored demand approach. Household income is found to affect organic fruit consumption. Consumers are more responsive to price of organic fruits than to price of conventional fruits. Cross-price effects suggest that a change in relative prices will more likely induce consumers to “cross-over” from buying conventional fruits to buying organic fruits, while it is less likely that organic consumers will “revert” to buying conventional fruits.
Keywords: National Organic Standards; Nielsen Homescan; organic fruit demand; price elasticities; censored demand system

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MDPI and ACS Style

Lin, B.-H.; Yen, S.T.; Huang, C.L.; Smith, T.A. U.S. Demand for Organic and Conventional Fresh Fruits: The Roles of Income and Price. Sustainability 2009, 1, 464-478.

AMA Style

Lin B-H, Yen ST, Huang CL, Smith TA. U.S. Demand for Organic and Conventional Fresh Fruits: The Roles of Income and Price. Sustainability. 2009; 1(3):464-478.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Lin, Biing-Hwan; Yen, Steven T.; Huang, Chung L.; Smith, Travis A. 2009. "U.S. Demand for Organic and Conventional Fresh Fruits: The Roles of Income and Price." Sustainability 1, no. 3: 464-478.

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