Gap Between Consumers and Industry

The produce industry is a dynamic, fast-paced, competitive, global family that feeds millions of people around the world.

The industry has transformed over the years from a hand-harvesting/horse and wagon transportation system to an industry that integrates both human labor and technology. The industry has become more environmentally efficient, reducing food waste at the production and consumer levels, while also being a critical part of communities, both rural and urban.

On the consumer side, a lot is known about demand for produce, whether it is willingness-to-purchase locally and/or organically grown, food safety, or reasons for purchasing. However, little is known about how consumers view issues that have a direct impact on the industry. Utilizing data from several nationally representative surveys of U.S. consumers, we find that consumers have mixed perceptions about the produce industry.

MIXED CONSUMER PERCEPTIONS

Looking at consumer views on the produce industry, around 60% view the industry as heading in the right direction on things such as environmental sustainability, feeding the U.S., food safety, paying appropriate wages, safe working conditions and trade issues.

However, 40% of consumers view the industry as heading in the wrong direction on the same issues, with around 15% indicating the industry as a whole is moving in the extremely wrong direction.

… the U.S. population tends to be uninformed on issues that have a direct impact on the produce industry.

Though most consumers have a positive view, it is concerning that such a large percentage of consumers have negative views of the industry.

The most important issues to consumers tended to be disaster assistance to producers, increasing costs for production, labor issues and import/export issues. The next included the aging of farmers, helping the younger generation move into farming, and selling farmland to developers.

Though all of these issues have important ramifications to the industry, the top issues are most likely top issues for two reasons 1) they relate to issues that could result in short-term price increases at the consumer level; and 2) they are more widely covered in the media and are more likely seen as more important due to consumers being more aware.

TRADE AND LABOR

Taking a closer look at two issues that are having a tremendous impact on the produce industry — import/export and labor — some interesting results emerge.

With respect to trade, consumers view the produce industry as being net neutral on trade, if not leaning to the U.S. exporting more than they import. A quick look at USDA data indicates this could not be further from the truth, as the U.S. is a net importer of produce with the gap expected to widen over the next decade.

Further, consumers view the import/export situation for produce to be similar to that of major meats (beef, chicken, pork), timber, row crops and production inputs. The importance of this finding is immense, as the produce industry in the U.S. is facing exponential growth in imports, with small export growth, while many other agricultural commodities are seeing slowed import growth and increasing export growth.

If policymakers share the same perceptions of the produce industry as their constituents, key policy decisions may not reflect the true nature of the situation.

With respect to labor, there is a large percentage (around 70%) of U.S. consumers who perceive there to be no labor issues in the produce industry, with around 30% of the 70% perceiving there to be a surplus of labor. And if there is a shortage, paying higher wages, increasing worker benefits, and providing better working conditions are the key to solving the shortage.

However, only 40% of the population surveyed indicated they would pay more for produce if worker wages were increased. This number is most likely high, as consumers often indicate they will pay higher prices in surveys and in reality, will not.

Looking at the H2-A program, most consumers surveyed were unfamiliar with the program and were indifferent to the H2-A provisions, though responses were varied on whether H2-A workers were paid a competitive wage in 2025. These results indicate a consumer base that does not understand the labor market in the produce industry.

So, overall, the U.S. population tends to be uninformed on issues that have a direct impact on the produce industry.

On the policy front, policies at the national, state, and local levels have a direct impact on competitiveness in the marketplace. A failure by a population to understand the complexities of issues impacting an industry often leads to policies that do not address issues that need to be addressed.

Ben Campbell is a professor in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at the University of Georgia.