Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

The meeting was called to order at 1 pm by Dawn Thilmany McFadden. She welcomed Cathy Durham, the newest member of the committee. As a way to outline the notes for the October 12th meeting, Dawn Thilmany integrated introductions, state reports and ideas for the new project proposal into the first hour of the meeting. Those in attendance, and their current role and responsibilities related to fruit and vegetable demand and market assessments include: 1. Dawn Thilmany Colorado State University-Chair, Alternative Market Assessments and Competitiveness 2. Maurus Brown-The Ohio State University-Piketon Small Fruit Crop Specialist 3. Cathy Durham, NEW MEMBER-Oregon State University-Food Innovation Center, retail and organic fruit studies and sensory research, new to the group 4. Roger Hinson-Louisiana State University-crop budgets and marketing projects, long time member 5. Carl Toensmeyer-Delaware-vegetable marketing, roadside marketing, new Website for marketing 6. Jim Epperson-Georgia- fruit and vegetable marketing, long time member 7. Tim Woods-Kentucky- long term member, fruit and vegetable direct marketing, value-added new product development 8. Ramu Govindasamy-Rutgers/New Jersey-past Chair, ag marketing with specialty crop and direct marketing projects, ethnic markets 9. Suzanne Thornsbury-Michigan State University-fruit and vegetable competitiveness and supply chains 10. Jennifer Dennis-Purdue-joint with Horticulture The state reports were given, in addition to the written forms that have been sent or will be sent by November 1st. These state reports will be integrated into the final report for 2008. 1. Update on project Extension a. Dawn Thilmany reported that the group received a one-year extension to the project for the 2008-09 year, but that it is with the understanding that a new proposal would be forwarded to the administrator with sufficient time to allow for any changes or improvements that may be recommended. b. Dawn distributed a very rough outline of the proposal, including a new title, for the group to discuss. 2. Plan for Developing new Project a. Following the outline that was distributed to the group, each member was asked to discuss their potential role in the new objectives, as a way to begin planning for our future committees work. b. The listing of these state reports by new draft objective are attached below the main minutes. 3. Plan for joint meetings a. S-1019 session at the Agribusiness meeting in Las Vegas in June 2009. i. Tim Woods and Jennifer Dennis offered to lead this effort to organize any group of presentations from the committee to the Las Vegas meetings. b. FDRS pre-conference on Supply Chains with Farm Foundation, Ag in the Middle i. Dawn Thilmany McFadden will host these meetings in the Denver area in October 2009, and we will have our usual committee meeting at that conference. ii. Any ideas for sessions that this group could sponsor should be forwarded to Dawn. 4. Plan for joint NR proposal/research (follow up on NRI organic produce proposal) a. At this time, there were no clear ideas for joint funding proposals. 5. Dawn encouraged everyone to consider other people who may want to participate in the new project, as this is an excellent time to bring new members to the group.

Objective 1: To assess the evolution of Supply-Chain Management in the fruit and vegetable sector and identify strategic organizational and marketing implications for diverse firms and specific commodity sub-sectors. Supply Chain Management Activities The main objective of supply chain management is to minimize time and cost from supply chains, improving profitability and/or competitiveness which is possible through utilization of technological advancement such as computing hardware, software, and other current electronic technologies. In supply chain management systems everything from raw materials to finished product is produced on demand and delivered "just in time" to the next stage of production. Suzanne T's work in Michigan is exploring competitiveness of fresh peaches by looking at seasonal differences in price relationships so they can inform the industry on how to strategically position themselves given such market conditions. Michigan is also working on international supply chains, particularly focused on China, for the tree fruit industry, as part of their competitiveness analysis. In preparing for an organic talk for Italy in 2008, Cathy Durham in Oregon found that we must explore the segmentation of organics, as a much higher share now moves through conventional marketing channels than one might believe. Earlier work from Georgia concentrated on the "Structure of the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Industry." There is no convincing evidence that the market structure of the U.S. produce industry has markedly changed over the past 25 years. While supermarket concentration has increased noticeably, the same cannot be said for produce market intermediaries such as brokers and wholesalers. Price analyses (outlined in Objective 3) have complemented this analysis by showing how price behavior in this sector has been in several product categories. Tim Woods at Kentucky has focused much of their work on direct marketing, supplementing the NASS data on direct marketing, and more on planting intentions survey focused on assessing intended marketing outlets. Have found growth in auctions and also working with Market Maker on coordination efforts among direct marketing stakeholders (including other members of the S1019 committee). They are also identifying strategies for direct marketers to deal with high demands of food industry (GAP, assurances). Kentucky has had a large increase in wineries, as is the case with other states, but they are struggling with coordination. They have coordinated with the Ohio State University and Purdue on regional wine industry development issues. Maurus from Ohio is working with the Sustainable Ag Team as a small fruit specialist and has seen the same as many states in terms of growth in interest in alternative systems. 2200 acres of wine grapes and 109 wineries poses a new challenge providing marketing assistance to this emerging sector. He sees a nice complement to fruit wines and development of partnerships among fruit growers and wineries. Jim Epperson is working to meet with the 66 certified organic producers in Georgia to explore their challenges and barriers to compete, but is finding that many small, mostly new enterprises, motivated by goals other than profits and have independent capital resources. Roger H. has also worked with distributors and supply chain sector with a focus on specialty and small and mid-sized operations, exploring the challenges of competing in that sector against larger scale competitors. Farmers markets growing in Ohio as well, and Market Maker has been adopted in Ohio, to develop culinary and food based tourism. Ohio has begun some work on developing marketing to food institutions. Firm size and food safety elements have also continued to be unique elements and considerations of developing Best Management Practices with producers. A Colorado State University study, funded by USDA NRI Small and Midsized Farms Competitiveness grant, indicates that producers may be provided some marketing transparency and trust to consumers through local and direct food systems supply chains. So, in addition to perceived quality improvements, increased marketing costs may be justified if "credence" attributes of fresh produce to consumer are perceived as greater. Jennifer Dennis at Purdue worked with a student on organizational structures of farmers markets with a past graduate student. Just received a Farmers Market Promotion grant to continue day long workshops on farmers market regulatory and management issues, but will now broadcast through Purdue to all counties in 5-6 different broadcasts, and will include some enterprise planning. Future work may also focus on some consumer issues. Ohio, Purdue and Kentucky are collaborating on small farm marketing analyses that integrate some health claims that may also be location specific. It was not funded, but will be resubmitted in future cycles. Given all the activity in direct marketing and local food systems, the committee agreed that this may be a more primary focus of the new project. Potential impact of Supply Chain Management activities. The case studies in New Jersey will provide the information towards profitability of ethnic crops in North-eastern States of United States. The information could be helpful to the respective state agricultural policy makers, extension specialists, researchers, prospective producers, distributors and retailers. The output in terms of presentations and publications will explicit state consumer's perceptions, preferences and opinions towards locally grown, organically grown and genetically modified ethnic produce. Producers and marketers will be able to alter their produce items positioning based on the consumers responses. The work from the Delaware team will help both producers to more fully understand what consumers are looking for in a Farm Market Web site. Therefore, consumers will have better Farm Market sites available to them and can make better buying decisions. Consumer surveying is important in that it informs producers who are direct marketing about the characteristics of their potential consumers that may be important in effective marketing strategies. Work on organic supply chains may help inform policy and marketing decisions among the organics industry, but its most immediate impact is to raise the profile of the industry and get more Land Grant human and research resources directed at organic research questions. New Jersey's pilot production system will provide information to local producers and marketers to better utilize the local opportunities by growing a variety of fruits and vegetables, in a cost effective manner, to increase the profitability of the produce sector. Maine's blueberry studies impacts include: 1) better understanding of the marketing channels available to small scale blueberry growers; 2) increased opportunities for market access by Latino growers; and 3) expanded outreach from the land grant university to a growing constituency. Objective 2: To analyze the relative costs and competitiveness of fruit and vegetable sub-sectors, either regionally, nationally, and/or globally, using new and established analytical paradigms which incorporate theories from business schools and other fields. Competitiveness No emerging market has received more attention in recent years than that of China. Rapid growth in exports from China (including agricultural products), a large U.S. bilateral trade deficit, and accession to the WTO (thus gaining access to most-favored-nation tariff rates) have all raised awareness of China as a world competitor. Global industry expansion is a phenomenon that pressures Michigan fruit industries to find new ways of doing business. Ultimately, competitiveness among producing regions in the world will be driven by a combination of production and shipping costs, fruit quality, marketing management (linking with others who have good distribution networks in new growing markets such as Asia, Latin America, and Central/Eastern Europe, and marketing promotion), and organizational approach such as strategic alliances. This project focuses on evaluation and analysis of a key set of information critical to Michigan horticultural firms seeking to enter the markets in China, or seeking to understand how Chinese produce might enter the U.S. market. A second Michigan-based project examined the nature and extent of spatial price relationships among four geographically distinct regions in the U.S. fresh peach wholesale market. Counter-seasonal imports of fresh produce facilitate year-round availability in the U.S. and may impact the seasonal structure of market price relationships. When domestic production is available (summer) market prices among regions exhibit greater spatial differences, including greater independence, due to local supply influences while lack of domestic production during the winter marketing season results in greater equilibration of market prices among regions. Summer marketing season prices are led by the two main production regions - the West and South - while the East maintains some degree of autonomy. The West and the East, in particular, see changes in spatial price relationships as they swap the role of major supply region from summer to winter and as peach deficit regions of the Midwest and the South become influential over prices. New Jersey's ethnic NRI project concentrated on local fresh fruits and vegetables made available to East-coast consumers at competitive prices. The project provides significant produce statistics to the local farmers through its research and demonstration plots. The cost and produce figures will be available by the end of 2008. A current case study project among producers (2008) in New Jersey will provide successful produce items pricing and marketing strategies for ethnic crop producers. Producers will be able to appropriately price their products based on the information provided. In another state, Kentucky, they are exploring the economic benefits of using Electronic Benefits technology at farmers markets to explore participation enhancement and meeting objectives of that program. Given the increased demand for WIC and AFDC benefits and the electronic transition of those programs, this seems worth exploring. National marketing studies indicate that consumer interest in local and certified-organic produce will continue to increase over the next several years. Consumer benefits of purchasing local produce include production accountability, potentially lower prices, and increased variety, and freshness. The Pennsylvania fruit industry is interested in determining consumer demand for locally-grown and certified-organic apples as well as value-added apple products that will illuminate local marketing opportunities. An Internet survey of consumers residing in metropolitan Philadelphia was conducted in July of 2008 to identify attitudes, behaviors, and demographics of those who prefer these products. Results are currently be analyzed and manuscripts will be submitted to appropriate journals. Georgian MALTAG Regional Enterprise Budgets for Organic Vegetables Project budgeting and cash flow analysis are integral parts of assessing costs, financial planning and risk management for agricultural producers. Enterprise budgets are the basic building blocks to this evaluative process. The inter-disciplinary regional project includes six states and provides business planning resources to an underserved audience, specialty crop producers. Greg in Georgia has worked with the committee on budgets for the Southeast with others on the committee. Ohio is also working on specialized organic budget systems for fruits and vegetables, which may be imperative given input cost pressures in recent times. At LSU, Roger H. is using Risk Management Agency support to develop fresh produce enterprise budgets, including a standardized template to better coordinate the regional efforts (Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Louisiana, Georgia). Further efforts have explored how organic budgets could be extended from the broader budgeting project. Working with horticulturalists on making the budgets more realistic, given the originals are based on inputs available in markets, not necessarily what is really happening on farms. In short, the organic budgets may look too "conventional." Through the Colorado USDA NRI Small and Midsized Farms grant, they have modified their approach by developing a typical "CSA market basket" budget. They have applied for a follow up Risk Management Agency grant to continue developing grants in the Southeast, but were not successful in 2008. Colorado is also considering development of more direct market budgets through their state's Building Farmers program. Louisiana has been asked by their Department of Agriculture to explore efficient promotional activities with respect to vegetables and sweet potatoes, and some key stakeholders have been brought together to assess their perceptions of effectiveness using the Delphi method. Expect different results for sweet potatoes because of the small number of sellers. Purdue is working on economic impact analysis of Indiana wine industry to justify an excise tax for that industry. Purdue is also cooperating with Rigoberto Lopez on assessing marketing strategies that include sustainability with the ornamental sector of the horticultural industry, including barriers to entry and adoption of new business practices. In terms of competitiveness, trade agreements with Kenya for cut flowers represents one case study they hope to explore in this area. Potential impact of Competitiveness Activities The impacts of studies on China include 1) increased awareness and understanding of China horticultural markets among Michigan produce industries; 2) information and contacts providing potential for Michigan agribusiness firms to explore cross-country alliances that may result in increased fruit exports and/or fruit production; 3) an on-going relationship with researchers in China. Impacts include 1) better understanding of seasonal price relationships in the U.S. fresh peach market; 2) potential to develop regional strategies for managing price in these markets. Similarly, in Pennsylvania, the future direction of organic-apple marketing research will be greatly influenced by current studies scheduled for November 2008. Assessments of potential markets, both within Pennsylvania and in bordering states, for organically-grown apples and value-added apple products are necessary to determine which opportunities are truly feasible and which are not as practical. Learning directly from the consumer as to their wants and needs is absolutely crucial for any effort to be successful and economically sustainable. The wide array of budgeting projects, that integrate more information on marketing alternatives and certification processes than traditional budgets, represent essential business planning tools for stakeholders. This project has a tradition of blending research and Outreach into integrated projects, and these innovative budgets represent some of the most successful in terms of addressing stakeholders stated needs. The New Jersey's NRI ethnic project is expected to create an impact on the ethnic fruits and vegetables sector in the East-coast region by providing selected ethnic crops information to the local farmers so they will be able to compete with non-local produce suppliers. This production data sheets will provide sufficient information to the farmers to determine profitability of crops. The ethnic crop research trials demonstrated crop production procedures and documented yield variations which will help educate potential growers and the appropriate crop types for their local market. In a broader context, a better understanding of the differential cash returns to organic produce in different regions of the country will be useful to producers in their production planning and market pricing. Objective 3: Develop demand models for the produce sector that can be used to evaluate trade, commodity marketing programs, labeling programs, traceability systems, and structural changes in the U.S. produce markets. Demand Models The New Jersey study was undertaken to document and quantify the ethnic produce market and to identify opportunities for farmers to grow crops targeted from a demand perspective. The rapid expansion of ethnic population presents significant opportunities for fruit and vegetable producers along the East Coast to take advantage of their close proximity to densely populated areas. The specific ethnic market subjects of study are the Asian and Hispanic segments, chosen for their strong recent growth and continued growth expectations. The top two sub-groups within each of these segments were chosen for the study; Chinese and Asian Indian (Asian sub-groups) and Puerto Rican and Mexican (Hispanic sub-groups). The geographic focus is the East Coast and includes Washington D.C. and sixteen states bordering the East Coast. The consumers' survey collected three types of ethnic consumer expenditures; total produce expenditure, ethnic produce expenditure, and expenditures for specific ethnic produce items. The total demand for ethnic fruits and vegetables of east-coast states will be available by the end of 2008. In Kentucky, Tim Woods is working with market assessments of value of local foods, including how local is local, as part of Small Farm NRI project with the Ohio State University. Micro-local and regional designations are the focus of that project. They are also looking at the intersection between nutritional claims and local food market development. Kentucky has a Food Consumer panel that allows them to quickly assess demand and interest in a variety of food crops. They are also exploring economic benefits of sampling through a Farmers Market Promotion Program grant. Previous studies using consumer surveys based on contingent valuation gave inconsistent or even contradictory results with respect to the impact of some consumer characteristics on organic food consumption. Using actual retail level data on organic produce (fruits, vegetables and baby food from Nielsen sources), and exploring how strong the demand elasticities were for these products over the 1990s and more recent years, the Georgia study provides an objective view of consumer socio economic characteristics related to the growth of the fresh organic produce market. Among various organic foods, fresh fruits and vegetables have much higher market penetration rates than others. For example, in 2002, organic fresh fruit and vegetable sales accounted for 4.5% of total fresh fruit and vegetable sales. Sales of packaged fresh produce in natural food supermarkets had the highest growth rate among sales of all organic products during 2003-2004, expanding 35.4% annually on average to $171.9 million. Despite the projected high growth in consumption of fresh organic produce, consumer characteristics contributing to growth have not been well understood. The objective was to identify important consumer demographic characteristics that are associated with fresh organic produce consumption and investigate effects on consumption. The results indicate that marketing strategies targeting higher income and higher educated consumers can be effective in both attracting new consumers and eliciting more sales from current consumers. Age of the household head had mixed effects regarding decisions for organic market participation and consumption levels. Minority households are an important segment of the fresh organic produce market which retailers can target effectively. Oregon future participation (it is a new member) will be strongly related to value-added aspects of consumer demand including credence attributes such as organic production or nutrient levels (Durham) and also on the value added by sensory attributes (Durham, Marin). The principle Oregon project will use retail store sales data to examine consumer demand and the substitutability between organic and conventional fruits and vegetables in conventional supermarkets. Data collection has already been established and data is being organized for analysis. This analysis will use classical demand models. A second project involves a multidisciplinary team with sensory scientists to improve methods for the evaluation of new fruit and vegetable varieties with respect to consumer acceptance, purchase intent, and demand potential. Colorado's consumer survey results have provided evidence about willingness to pay, but more indirectly through analyses focused on segmenting consumers, exploring those who buy produce direct and exploring how consumers use label information to decide on products and prices. A labeling experiment within the consumer survey found buyers do distinguish between competing claims and logos in Colorado. Claims relating to a healthy diet rich in fruits and vegetables were most effective in attracting consumers and consumers may look for additional certification standards and scientific evidence that organic products are of higher quality. Domestic wine consumption has increased, along with competition among Pennsylvania wineries and wineries. The best tool for a wine producer, as a method of developing and maintaining the domestic industry, is access to consumer data. Demographic information describing the average U.S. wine consumer exists; however, characteristics specific to those who purchase Pennsylvania wine are not readily available. Since it is anticipated that consumption of wine, wine products, and visits to tasting rooms will continue to increase, current and future wine producers and tasting room operators need to know their customers' interests, attitudes, and behaviors in an effort to stay competitive in the marketplace. Proposals and pre-proposals have been submitted to state and regional funding agencies and to appropriate associations. Other federal funding agencies have been identified and will be targeted in early 2008. Although it is not directly linked to fruit and vegetable marketing, Jennifer Dennis at Purdue is looking at consumer interest in sustainably produced and marketed ornamental horticulture goods, with the idea that there may be similarities among organic produce and those consumers. Potential Impact of Demand Models Although each state has slightly different focus to their work, the group continues to learn from one another on appropriate methods and approaches to answer industry questions, and there was great sharing among the participants with respect to survey instruments, appropriate funding resources and effective outreach tools. The ethnic research New Jersey project utilizes this consumer demand information to develop production trials, grower recommendations, and strategies to coordinate year-round production of select ethnic crops to serve this market niche and address the existing local supply-demand gap. For Georgia's work on organics, knowing effective target markets is a major tool for continued increased sales of fresh organic produce. The Agribusiness Center at Georgia works on marketing technical assistance with the tobacco money in Georgia, but that is only lightly connected with the Economics program in Georgia. The organic project will provide new information about how consumers substitute between conventional and organic fruit and vegetables as prices and availability change. The findings will provide useful information for investigations of antitrust issues for natural food stores, and aid producers and retailers in understanding pricing strategies in conventional grocery stores that now carry approximately 28% of all organic produce sales. For producers, the impact of sensory attributes on consumer willingness to pay aids in the selection of new produce varieties, and helps establish baseline pricing information by which to evaluate added production or distribution and marketing costs. In Delaware, Carl reported that the Food Institute reported recently that there is some perceived resistance toward the organic premiums being noted by retailers. Agri-culturehealth.com is a Website they helped to develop, and one of its goals is to assess the role of Websites to connect with consumers and identify the best market niches for fresh market producers, consumers and agritourism operations in New Jersey and Delaware. Americans have increased their consumption of fruit and vegetables as they are concerned with healthier lifestyles. And also higher consumption of fruits and vegetables is associated with decreased risk for chronic diseases, because fruits and vegetables have low energy density, eating them as part of a reduced-calorie diet can be beneficial for weight management. According to 2005 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), about 33% of adults consumed fruit two or more times per day and 27% ate vegetables three or more times per day. These results, together with the results from several state-based projects, underscore the need for continued marketing innovations that encourage greater fruit and vegetable consumption among U.S. adults. A better understanding of how Colorado consumers process information available on labels, including certification claims, might influence how the industry markets to consumers, and where government marketing programs might need to educate and do consumer outreach based on consumer perceptions. In Pennsylvania the research addressed the following issues that were prioritized as important marketing information by the industry: frequency of wine purchases, purpose of purchase (e.g. special occasions or as everyday wines), brand and origin preference (e.g. foreign, domestic, or state), varietals in greatest demand, and where products are most likely purchased (e.g. tasting rooms as opposed to Wine and Spirit Shops). Questions will be asked to better understand the most effective and appealing on-site and off-site (e.g. festivals and events) wine-sales opportunities, promotional and experiential strategies, and advertising methods. Surveys will also be designed to understand attitudinal differences between wine consumers and non-wine consumers, to determine how to encourage purchasing by non-wine consumers and what benefits and promotional strategies would most likely appeal to different populations.

State, Station or Agency: Thilmany McFadden, D., J. Lloyd, C.A. Bond, and J. Keeling-Bond. "Demand for Local Foods: A Market Assessment of Potential Sales for Northern Colorado." Thilmany, D., G. Schorre, and J. Keeling-Bond. Eat Your Fruits and Veggies More: Who Informs Consumers on Produce Choices and Nutrition. Thornsbury, S. "Future Directions for Michigan's Peach Industry," Michigan Peach Sponsors Meeting, Benton Harbor MI, March 12, 2008. Thornsbury, S. "China Produce Supply Chains: Evolution and Impacts on Michigan's Horticultural Industries," Northwest Michigan Orchard and Vineyard Show, Acme, MI January 16, 2008. Thornsbury, S. and M. Woods. "China Produce Supply Chains: Evolution and Impacts on Michigan's Horticultural Industries," Michigan State Horticultural Society board meeting, Clarksville, MI January 10, 2008. Woods, M. and S. Thornsbury. "China Impressions," Spring Horticulture Meeting, Hart, MI March 6, 2008. Outreach/Industry Publications Kelley, K.M. 2008. Implementing a customer loyalty program. 2008 Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Convention, pgs. 54-55. Kelley, K.M. 2008. Creating and hosting events at your agribusiness: Providing entertainment, helping families build memories, and increasing sales. Farm Management web site, http://farmmanagement.aers.psu.edu/ValueAddedMrkt.htm. Kelley, K.M. 2008. Learning about your customer, developing consumer segments, choosing goods and services that appeal. Farm Management web site, http://farmmanagement.aers.psu.edu/ValueAddedMrkt.htm. Lloyd, J. and D. Thilmany. Enterprise Budgeting for Small Farms: A Market Basket Approach. Colorado State University PFMR- 08-01. July 2008. 14 pp. Thilmany, D. "The Multi-Faceted Organic Consumer: Motivations and Perceptions" Invited Presentation to the CSU Lillian Fountain Smith Conference. June 2008. Thilmany, D. "Resources to Support Local Food Systems Buy Local Programs." Invited Speaker to the Southwest Marketing Network Conference, Santa Fe, NM. May 2008. Thornsbury, S., L. Gao, and M. Woods (2008). "China Produce Supply Chains: Their Evolution and Impacts on Michigan's Horticultural Industries," Final Project Report for Cherry Marketing Institute, Inc. and the Michigan State Horticultural Society. February, 67 pp. Thornsbury, S., L. Gao, and M. Woods (2008). "China Produce Supply Chains: Their Evolution and Impacts on Michigan's Horticultural Industries," Executive Summary. February, 2 pp. Woods, M. and S. Thornsbury (2008). "Cherries in China," MSU-CIBER Newsletter (electronic), Michigan State University, February. Thornsbury, S. (2008). "Cherry Industry in China," The Bridge, Newsletter of the Office of China Programs, Michigan State University, January. Refereed Conference Proceedings Abarca Orozco, S.L., and J.E. Epperson. 2008. The Economic Potential of the Lime Oil Industry in Mexico. J. Food Distr. Res., 39(1):1-4. Gao, L. and S. Thornsbury (2008). "Increasing Food Safety Protection: Fresh Apple Markets in China," Journal of Food Distribution Research, 39(1): 72-77. German, C. L., Toensmeyer, U.C., Hopkins, T., VanVranken, R., and Smith, L. "Expanding Farm-Fresh Direct-Marketing Opportunities in the 21st Century." Journal of Food Distribution Research, Volume XXXIX, No. 1, March 2008. p 145. Govindasamy, R., and V. Puduri. "Puerto Rican Consumers' Attitude towards Willingness to Pay a Premium for Ethnic Produce: An Econometric Analysis", Food Distribution Research Society, October 11-15, 2008 Columbus, Ohio. Govindasamy, R., V. Puduri, and J.E.Simon. "Asian Indian Willingness to Pay More for Ethnic Produce: A study in East-coast Region of United States", Canadian Agricultural Economics Society and Northeast Agricultural and Resource Economics Joint Conference, June 30 - July 1, 2008 Quebec City, Canada. Puduri, V.S, and R. Govindasamy. "Asian Consumers' Willingness to Buy Locally Grown Ethnic Produce: A Study from East-coast United States", Canadian Agricultural Economics Society and Northeast Agricultural and Resource Economics Joint Conference, June 30 - July 1, 2008 Quebec City, Canada. Govindasamy, R., and V. Puduri. "Modeling Chinese Consumers Willing to Pay Premium for Ethnic Produce in the United States: A Logistic Analysis", the joint meeting of the ISHS Economics and Management Commission and the Education, Research, Training and Consultancy Commission, which will be held in Chiang Mai, Thailand, from December 7-11, 2008. Govindasamy, R., and V. Puduri. "Puerto Rican Consumers' Attitude towards Willingness to Pay a Premium for Ethnic Produce: An Econometric Analysis", Food Distribution Research Society, October 11-15, 2008 Columbus, Ohio. Govindasamy, R., and V. Puduri. "Asian Indian Willingness to Pay a Premium for Ethnic Produce: A Study in the Eastern Coastal United States", the First Annual Conference of the Indian Society of Agri-Business Management on Emerging Trends in Agri-Business Management", 25-27 , September 2008 , Bangalore (in Collaboration with Center for Public Policy, IIM Bangalore and Center for Management in Agriculture, IIM, Ahmedabad). Lloyd, J., D. Thilmany, C. Bond and J. Keeling Bond. "Demand for Local Foods: A Market Assessment of Potential Sales for Northern Colorado." Selected Paper for the 2008 Western Agricultural Economics Association meetings. Big Sky, MT. June 2008. Thilmany, D., C. Bond and J. Bond. "Locavores and Fresh Produce Markets: Motivations, Shopping Behavior and Potential for Growth." Invited paper for Principal Paper Session: The Growing Market for Local Foods. July 2008. Orlando FL. (with C. Bond and J. Keeling-Bond) Thilmany McFadden, D., J. Lloyd, C.A. Bond, and J. Keeling-Bond. "Demand for Local Foods: A Market Assessment of Potential Sales for Northern Colorado." Selected paper for the 2008 Food Distribution Research Society Meetings. Columbus OH. October 2008. Refereed Journal Bond, C., D. Thilmany and J. Keeling-Bond. "What to Choose? The Value of Label Claims to Produce Consumers." Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics. December 2008. Bond, C., D. Thilmany and J. Keeling-Bond. Understanding Consumer Interest in Product and Process-Based Attributes for Fresh Produce. Spring 2008. Agribusiness: An International Journal. 24(2): 231-252. Curry Raper, K. S. Thornsbury, and C. Aquilar (2008). "Regional Wholesale Price Relationships in the Presence of Counter-Seasonal Imports." Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics. Forthcoming. Govindasamy, R., and V. Puduri. "Consumer Preferences in United States for Integrated Pest Management Produce," ICFAI University Journal of Agricultural Economics, July 2008. Govindasamy, R., Calum G. Turvey and V. Puduri. "The Influence of Agro-terrorism on consumers' preference for locally grown products: a case-study from New Jersey", Applied Economic Letters, Dec 21, 2007. Keeling-Bond, J, D. Thilmany and C. Bond . "What Influences Consumer Choice of Fresh Produce Purchase Location?" Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics. Forthcoming, April 2009. Puduri, V.S., Govindasamy, R., and B. Onyango. "Country of Origin Labeling of Fresh Produce: A Consumer Preference Analysis" Applied Economic Letters, Dec 14, 2007. Thilmany, D., C. Bond, and J. Bond. "Going Local: Exploring Consumer Behavior and Motivations for Direct Food Purchases." American Journal of Agricultural Economics., December 2008. Zhang, F., C.L. Huang, B.H. Lin, and J.E. Epperson. 2008. Modeling Fresh Organic Produce Consumption with Scanner Data: A Generalized Double Hurdle Model Approach. Agribus. Int. J., 24, forthcoming. Book Chapters Thilmany, D. and J. Sooby. The Organic Foods Industry in Rural America. Chapter for Encyclopedia of Rural America, 2nd edition. Grey House Publishing, July 2008. Thilmany, D. and P. Watson. Revitalizing Rural Communities: Agricultural Producers' Emerging Role in Public and Private Innovation. Perspectives on 21st Century Agriculture: A Tribute to Walter J. Armbruster, Farm Foundation, Oak Brook, IL, 2007 (published January 2008).