Gardner Food and Agricultural Policy Survey: 2nd Quarter, How to Encourage Sustainable Food Production

With food production straining finite resources, there remains a need for agricultural producers to adopt climate-friendly production practices. There are many ways to encourage farmers to adopt certain production practices. Federal, state, and local governments may require or provide incentives for farmers to adopt sustainable practices. Buyers, particularly food retailers and restaurants, and brands can also require or incentivize their suppliers to adopt sustainable practices. Finally, consumers can vote with their dollars and pay premiums for food made using sustainable practices.

For example, government can be involved in mandating practices that reduce discharge into waterways and in incentivising environmental protection. In the US, regulatory programs such as the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Endangered Species Act may impose behavioral restrictions on some farmers to achieve better conservation outcomes, but many farmers are exempt from many state environmental regulations (Bernstein, Cooper, and Claassen, 2004) . In contrast, land reclamation programs such as the Conservation Reserve Program and the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program provide incentives in the form of payments and/or cost sharing for landowners to take environmentally sensitive land out of production. Other examples of voluntary (incentivized) conservation programs include the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, the Conservation Security Program, and the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (Bernstein, Cooper, and Claassen, 2004; FSA, 2022).

Retailers and brands are also increasingly setting standards and requirements for their suppliers. Many food industry participants (e.g. PepsiCo, Walmart, Kellogg, Target, McDonalds) have committed to science-based targets to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and some have committed to net-zero emissions (e.g. SBTi, 2022). These participants also develop specific agricultural policies and targets for their suppliers that are relevant to their products – from shade-grown coffee beans to deforestation-free feed. Recently, there has been a growing focus on regenerative agriculture (e.g. Uldrich, 2021; Olsen, 2022). Some consumers were also willing to pay higher prices for labels associated with sustainable production practices (Greene et al., 2017). The most well-known label is USDA Organic, but new labels and claims have appeared in grocery stores (e.g. carbon neutral eggs Acosta, 2021).

Ultimately, a key concern for farmers, which doesn’t always translate into business goals or consumer demands, is the extent to which the practices make financial sense. The Large Commercial Producers 2021 survey found that the most common reasons for farmers to adopt conservation practices were future productivity, government incentives, environmental concerns and cost reductions. Whereas the most common reasons why they didn’t adopt these practices were: concern for profits, insufficient financial incentives, bad experiences, and insufficient resources. Additionally, the findings of Neto, Gray, Castro, and Brewer, which looked at farmer willingness to adopt conservation practices, underscored the importance of being clear with farmers about costs, benefits, and return on investment, noting that farmers approaching retailers to provide equipment and consumables, and expertise (2020).

The different ways of encouraging farmers to adopt sustainable practices vary in speed, adaptability and impact. Different methods also affect consumers in different ways, which may not all be accounted for in the survey. For example, companies can pass on the costs of sustainable practices to consumers or push farmers and suppliers to bear the costs; Taxes or other measures that increase costs for businesses can also be passed on to consumers. Therefore, it is useful to understand consumer preferences for the different mechanisms that could be used. Here we review the first and second quarter results of the Gardner Food and Agricultural Policy Survey (farmdoc daily, June 2, 2022; August 18, 2022) to assess how US consumers believe we should encourage farmers to adopt sustainable practices. The survey was conducted using Qualtrics panels and included approximately 1,000 respondents who were recruited to match the US population in terms of gender, age, income and geographic region. The first and second quarters were conducted in May 2022 and August 2022, respectively.

How US consumers think we should promote sustainable food production

We asked, “There are many ways to encourage more sustainable production practices. Do you support or oppose each of the following ways to encourage more sustainable food production?” Respondents were asked about four ways to promote sustainable production practices: (1) the government requires farmers to use sustainable practices, (2) the government provides Farmers are financially incentivized to use sustainable practices, (3) businesses such as grocery stores and restaurants require suppliers to use sustainable practices, and (4) consumers pay more for food produced using sustainable practices. The order of these four questions was randomized. Respondents were asked to indicate whether they supported, opposed, or did not support or opposed each avenue to promote sustainable production practices. The proportion of US consumers who supported the different opportunities for farmers to adopt sustainable practices for Q1 and Q2 is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Percentage of US consumers who support different ways to encourage farmers to adopt sustainable production practices

We find that over 64% of US consumers support the government encouraging farmers to adopt sustainable practices and 45-48% support the government require farmers to adopt sustainable practices. Over 50% of US consumers support companies that require their suppliers to adopt sustainable practices; However, only around 33% of consumers supported paying a premium for food produced using sustainable methods to encourage sustainable production. There was little change between May 2022 and August 2022, with a modest increase in support for governments and companies requiring farmers to adopt sustainable production practices in the August 2022 survey wave.

We also evaluated how these responses differed by political ideology (see Table 1). Overall, we find that liberal consumers are more supportive of all options than moderate or conservative consumers, with liberals expressing much stronger support for commitments (by government or industry) to sustainable production practices. Across political ideology, views were more similar on government incentives and consumers paying to encourage sustainable production practices. Additionally, between May and August 2022, we see little change for Liberal or Moderate consumers and a slight increase in Conservative consumers’ support for both government requirements (up from 5.5%) and companies demanding sustainable practices (up from 5 .6%).

Table 1. Percentage of US consumers who support different ways through political ideology to encourage farmers to adopt sustainable production practices

Opportunity to encourage farmers to adopt sustainable production practices	liberal		moderated		conservative
	Can 2022	Aug 2022	Can 2022	Aug 2022	Can 2022	Aug 2022
The government requires farmers to use sustainable practices	67.7%	65.7%	42.6%	44.3%	29.4%	34.9%
The government offers financial incentives to farmers to adopt sustainable practices	77.4%	77.6%	61.9%	59.9%	56.9%	56.6%
Businesses (e.g. grocery stores and restaurants) require their suppliers to use sustainable practices	68.1%	69.0%	48.1%	49.0%	36.1%	41.7%
Consumers pay more for sustainably produced food	45.8%	47.6%	32.9%	27.5%	23.9%	25.1%

Final Thoughts

The shift to more sustainable agricultural production can be achieved in a number of ways. The results of the Gardner Food and Agricultural Policy Survey show that voluntary government programs with incentives are more palatable to consumers than mandating the adoption of sustainable practices or paying a premium for products that promote sustainable production. Consumers’ desire for farmer autonomy in their production decisions is not surprising as we know that consumers place a high level of trust in farmers (farmdoc daily, June 2, 2022; August 18, 2022). The limited support for paying more for products/brands that promote sustainable production (e.g., matching your dollar) is somewhat surprising given that research consistently shows that, on average, consumers are willing to pay premiums for products that promote environmental benefits. However, the current inflationary environment may reduce consumers’ willingness to pay for such products. We will continue to monitor sentiment towards different mechanisms to achieve a more sustainable food system.

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