Tomato Survey Tracks Consumer Trends

Fresh market tomatoes are a big business in the U.S. with a total crop value of $1.4 billion in 2010. Florida is a big player, making up nearly half of the total value.

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It is no surprise that the state has felt the brunt of competitive pressures in recent years. U.S. data illustrates the impact of competition, with production dropping from 3.9 billion pounds in 2000 to 2.8 billion pounds in 2008.

While U.S. production was falling imports from Mexico were following an opposite course. The amount of tomatoes imported into the U.S. jumped from 1.3 billion pounds to 3.4 billion pounds during the same period, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. Mexican imports account for 90% of the imported tomatoes into the country.

Consumer Preferences

Many of the tomatoes imported from Mexico are being grown in protected agriculture structures and have gained popularity from consumers because of their flavor and diversity of selections from snack to larger sizes. But, does where they come from really matter?

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To get a better gauge of consumer tastes, a team UF/IFAS researchers conducted a comprehensive survey to help build better marketing strategies for Florida tomato growers. The results were published in the 2014 “Tomato Institute Proceedings.”

The team’s hypothesis was consumers are willing to pay a premium for tomatoes from Florida/U.S. compared to tomatoes from Mexico. They further hypothesized they would respond differently if the origin of the tomatoes were made more clear.

The survey was conducted using a “mall intercept” format where 632 respondents participated in the questionnaire in Baltimore, Dallas, and Tampa in shopping mall environments.

Demographic information was collected from respondents. Then they were presented two baskets of tomatoes, which were exactly the same with the exception of a labels, which illustrated various combinations of U.S., Mexico, and Florida small stickers on the tomatoes. And, one presentation showed a sign on top of the basket, which read “Florida Grown” to represent more of a point-of-purchase display.

Survey participants were asked questions related to perceptions toward the tomatoes given the labels and their willingness to pay more for fresh market tomatoes from the U.S., Florida, and Mexico.

Survey Results

The participants represented a mix of demographics in the three cities where the survey was conducted.
In total, 44.3% of the respondents indicated they did notice the stickers or sign during the survey, while 55.7% said they did not notice the labels.

When asked to pinpoint what factors are most important when purchasing tomatoes, survey respondents indicated the following:

  • Freshness, firmness, and color ranked as the most important factors
  • Price, tomato size, and shape were relatively less important
  • Variety, country-of-origin, on the vine or not, and availability of samples were the least important factors.

While country-of-origin ranked as a least important factor, the survey results show that the majority (55%) of the participants in all selected cities chose Florida/U.S. tomatoes, which was roughly twice as much as those who preferred Mexico tomatoes. Only 15% indicated the origin of the tomatoes made no difference.

In addition, on average, consumers were willing to pay a premium for Florida/U.S. tomatoes over Mexico under all country-of-origin scenarios, albeit a small premium. Across all survey cities, participants were willing to pay on average $1.87 per pound for tomatoes with U.S. stickers on the fruit, compared to $1.63 per pound for tomatoes with Mexico stickers.

Given the authors’ theory, it would be expected the tomatoes with the U.S. sticker and Florida grown sign would draw the highest premium. However, across the cities, participants were willing to pay $1.68 per pound for that scenario. This is mainly due to the consumers in Tampa, who likely felt Florida-grown tomatoes should have a less expensive price tag because of lower costs for items like transportation.

Results indicate the industry could benefit from more education on the positive aspects of locally grown produce and where to look on the fruit and other point-of-purchase displays to learn the country-of-origin of fruit. As always, the survey reinforced that appearance, taste, and quality remain critical.

“Marketing Strategies To Promote Florida Tomatoes,” which is included in the 2014 Tomato Institute Proceedings, was authored by University of Florida researchers Xiang Cao,
Lisa House, Zhifeng Gao, and Zhengfei Guan.

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