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February 16, 2006 NDSU Students Survey Shoppers’ “Natural” Beef Attitudes Grocery shoppers would be willing to buy “natural” or North Dakota-raised beef and pay more for it, a North Dakota State University survey shows. Animal and Range Sciences Department students surveyed about 1,200 shoppers at Fargo and Moorhead Hornbacher’s Foods stores. The students questioned shoppers each day of the week at four stores. “Some people do all of their shopping one day of the week,” says Ken Odde, a professor in the Animal and Range Sciences Department who helped the students with the survey. “We wanted to reach the full spectrum of shoppers.” The survey found:
Odde says shoppers’ interest in beef raised in North Dakota is very significant because of what it could mean for the state’s beef cattle producers and how they raise cattle. The survey was part of the research being conducted through the Beef Systems Center of Excellence at NDSU. The center’s three main objectives are to expand cattle feeding and processing operations in North Dakota, increase research capacity in meat sciences and improve educational opportunities for students in the beef industry. The survey didn’t define “natural,” but it generally means one of three things: The beef came from cattle raised without ever receiving antibiotics or growth-promoting implants; beef products entered the “natural” market after tests on carcasses found they had no antibiotic residues; or producers stopped using antibiotics on the cattle for a specified period before the animals went to market. Also, “natural” beef programs encourage producers to use vaccines because the emphasis is on preventing diseases, as opposed to treating them, Odde says. “Natural” is not the same as “organic,” according to Odde. The federal government defines “organic,” but not “natural,” leaving the marketplace to define “natural,” he says. The NDSU survey results mirror other studies of consumer preferences for naturally raised beef elsewhere in the country. For example, a three-state survey in 2001 found nearly 65 percent of consumers in Kansas City, Kan., 70 percent in Oklahoma City and 80 percent in Dallas had a positive attitude toward “all-natural” beef. That was based on the consumers’ perception of the term “all-natural.” After reading a description of the term, the number of people with a positive attitude rose to 81.7 percent in Oklahoma City, 83.2 percent in Kansas City and 88.6 percent in Dallas. The same survey found 47 percent of the consumers in Oklahoma City, 56.6 percent in Kansas City and 81.7 percent in Dallas were willing to pay more for “all-natural” beef. These results don’t surprise Odde. “Over the last several years, the ‘natural’ beef market has seen significant growth,” he says. “In order to understand this growing market, it is important to understand that this is simply one aspect of the growing ‘natural’ food market.” He estimates the “natural” beef market grows about 25 percent per year. ### Source:
Ken Odde, (701) 231-7658, ken.odde@ndsu.edu
Cutline: NDSU senior Lacey Johnson has a grocery shopper fill out a questionnaire for a survey on consumers’ willingness to buy beef products from cattle raised “naturally” or in North Dakota. |
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North Dakota State University |
