Is This Food "Local"? Evidence from a Framed Field Experiment

This experimental research studies consumer preferences for local food accompanied by various label definitions. 374 adult participants made purchase decisions for local oysters characterized by multiple definitions of the term local. Results show consumers are less willing to pay for local oysters when local is defined as harvested within 400 miles than they are for oysters harvested within 100 miles or 25 miles. Willingness to pay (WTP) also increases when local is defined as being harvested in a watershed from the same state of the purchase location rather than in an adjacent state. Interestingly, the highest WTP is when no definition of local is provided.