Direct marketing channel choices among US farmers: evidence from the Local Food Marketing Practices Survey

Urban Farm DB summary

Using the 2015 Local Food Marketing Practices Survey, collected by the USDA in 2016, and binomial and multinomial logit regressions, this study examined which farm and farmer characteristics predict participation in direct marketing channels and the choice of particular channel combinations among US farmers. It found evidence of product-specific barriers to participation in certain channels: livestock producers were less likely than other farmers to sell directly to retailers, while vegetable farmers were less likely to sell to intermediaries. Beginning farmers were more likely than established farmers to sell directly to retailers but less likely to sell to intermediaries.