US consumer perceptions of local food, food safety and climate change

The Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture has conducted a web-based survey of 750 consumers and produced a report called Food, Fuel and the Future: Consumer Perceptions of Local Food, Food Safety and Climate Change in the Context of Rising Prices.

The objectives of the study were to gauge consumer perceptions about: food purchases and transport use in response to higher food and fuel prices; food safety, within the context of where their food comes from and how it is grown; the impact that various scales and production methods of the food system have on greenhouse gas emissions; their willingness to pay for a food system that achieves a net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions; and the meaning of local food in terms of distance and location.