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National & World Ag News Headlines |
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'Local Food Opinion Leaders' Bridge Farmer-Consumer Gap
USAgNet - 08/25/2016
As consumers increasingly desire local food, opinion leaders can encourage others to eat healthier food and, in doing so, improve the local economy, according to new University of Florida Food and Agricultural Sciences research.
'Opinion leaders' are those who influence others via the respect they earn from those around them, said Alexa Lamm, associate director of the UF Center for Public Issues Education (PIE Center) and the leader of this research.
Opinion leaders could be critical in bridging the gap between locally grown food and consumers. That's important because local food sales totaled $6.1 million in 2012, up $1.3 million in four years, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But another
study showed only 7.8 percent of U.S. farms targeted local consumers.
In this study, faculty and students at the PIE Center recently surveyed 1,023 people across the U.S. to identify which ones were 'local food opinion leaders' and assess their roles in the local food movement. To gauge an opinion leader in this area, researchers
asked participants to respond to statements such as 'during the past six months, how many people have you told about the safe handling of food?'
Results showed 15 percent of those surveyed qualified as 'opinion leaders.'
Then researchers asked questions to find out how opinion leaders can influence their peers when it comes to local food. Results showed opinion leaders value eating healthy foods; most agreed high-quality foods provide benefits to overall personal health and
indicated that healthy eating should be a priority. Nearly 80 percent said they bought locally grown foods from a grocery store.
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