Who Buys Local Food?

Using data from a national survey of food shoppers, a Lancaster-Weinstein model is estimated using probit analysis to investigate the characteristics of local food buyers. Because there is no standard for what “local food” is, consumer research is used to define the term fairly narrowly as buying from farmers’ markets, buying directly from farmers, and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) membership. The results reveal that income and demographic characteristics are not dominant factors, nor do attitudes or behaviors related to the environment and health significantly affect whether shoppers buy local. Rather, it is the attitudes and behaviors related to food and shopping that significantly increase the probability that shoppers buy local food. The implications are strategies that will be effective in promoting local foods.