ABSTRACT
Introduction Growth in consumer demand for organic and local foods has made these two niche segments critically important to the food system. In 2015, the dollar value of farm level sales marketed locally totaled $8.7 billion, while farm level sales of certified organic products amounted to $6.2 billion (US Department of Agriculture, NASS 2016b, 2016a). While local and organic farm level sales comprise a small portion of total farm sales, these market segments have benefits for farm income, business profits and consumer welfare. Organic farmers, for example, earn higher profits, largely due to their ability to command higher selling prices (Crowder and Reganold 2015, McBride et al. 2015). In contrast to organic products, the relative profitability of local marketing is less clear (Brown and Miller 2008). Consumer benefits include greater availability of organic and local foods, as retailers plan to meet growing consumer demand for organic and local foods (Packaged Facts 2017).
