Title of Paper
Picking Pumpkins, Changing Behaviors: How Agritourism can Influence Consumer Behavior towards Local Foods
Abstract (150 Words)
Consumers’ engagement in local food consumption is crucial for food systems sustainability and agritourism is considered a market outlet for local food consumption. Yet, there has been limited research on consumer behavior towards local food in the context of agritourism. The purpose of this work is to measure whether an agritourism experience influences consumers’ intentions to purchase local food. To achieve this purpose this study utilized a pre-post survey at agritourism operations in North Carolina. A repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance was used to measure the influence of agritourism on intended consumer behavior. This study concludes that agritourism positively influences consumers’ attitudes and personal norms towards local food and intended local food purchasing. Altogether, this study builds towards an underexplored additional benefit of agritourism as a strategy to promote local food consumption and food systems sustainability.
Picking Pumpkins, Changing Behaviors: How Agritourism can Influence Consumer Behavior towards Local Foods
Consumers’ engagement in local food consumption is crucial for food systems sustainability and agritourism is considered a market outlet for local food consumption. Yet, there has been limited research on consumer behavior towards local food in the context of agritourism. The purpose of this work is to measure whether an agritourism experience influences consumers’ intentions to purchase local food. To achieve this purpose this study utilized a pre-post survey at agritourism operations in North Carolina. A repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance was used to measure the influence of agritourism on intended consumer behavior. This study concludes that agritourism positively influences consumers’ attitudes and personal norms towards local food and intended local food purchasing. Altogether, this study builds towards an underexplored additional benefit of agritourism as a strategy to promote local food consumption and food systems sustainability.