Market organic farmers-Costa Rica

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Market trends and consumer profile at the organic farmers market in Costa Rica

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Juan Antonio Aguirre Gonza´lez CAMSA Consulting Services, San Jose, Costa Rica Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this study is to provide information to local authorities, consumers, retailers and vendors of organic agricultural products. The information could be used for the development of long-term strategies for local organic market development based on the consumer profile information of buyers at the organic market, as well as its evolution and motivations that moved them to start and to continue purchasing organic products. In order to identify reliable trends and potential changes in the quantity and quality of the profile of the organic consumer, could the information also be be used for local market developments strategies.

Design/methodology/approach – A total of six studies were conducted at Costa Rica’s largest local organic farmers market “La Feria del Trueque”, during the same period every year during the month of February, covering an eight-year period. The six surveys became three mega databases: one for the 1999/2000 period, another for the 2004/2005 and one finally for the 2007/2008 period.

Findings – The study finds that the organic consumer is usually highly educated, has a high income, is concerned with health and environmental problems, has a smaller than average family with men being more involved in the purchase of organic products and living in suburbia rather than from the metropolitan areas.

Practical implications – After a decade of expansion, the Costa Rican organic products market is starting to show signs of consolidation. However, the volume, the available varieties and guaranteed supply will decide the future direction of the market. Relocating the market closer to the consumer will benefit the overall sales.

Originality/value – The paper gives an in-depth insight into the organic market of today and is a valuable addition to the present literature.

Keywords Organic foods, Consumer behaviour, Marketing, Customer satisfaction, Costa Rica Paper type Research paper

British Food Journal Vol. 111 No. 5, 2009 pp. 498-510 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0007-070X DOI 10.1108/00070700910957320

Introduction Since 1999/2000 the organic farmers market located at “La Feria del Trueque” the largest organic farmers market of Costa Rica, capital city, San Jose, have been monitored The material reported in this paper is the result of such a monitoring and completes an eight-year cycle, in which the main objective of the effort was to identify the trends and stability of consumers purchasing patterns and profiles characteristics, over a period long enough to be give those marketing agricultural products marketing a solid base to develop long-term strategies to develop the local market.

The material available in Costa Rica, from other sources is not comparable, due to the changing methodologies that have been used, as well as the types of survey.

Therefore, the data variable from such studies although reliable, has to be taken with this limitation when compare with the material resulting from the study reported in this paper.

A study conducted in 1999 in Costa Rica, found that the average age of organic agricultural consumers of fruits was 48 years-old, 87 percent knew what an organic product was, 43 percent were willing to pay the same price for the equivalent conventional product and 5 percent were willing to pay 10 percent more for organic product (Collins et al., 1999).

In 1998 a consumer study conducted by the University of Costa Rica identified the eight most important factors controlling consumers’ decisions to purchase organic products. These influencing factors included; closeness to the home, comfortable location, price and income, freshness, variety in supply, custom, hygiene, and quality (Acevedo et al., 1998).

In a consumer study conducted in Costa Rica’s in 2001 organic products, presents no problems with taste and smell, but often the color and size of organic goods creates an image that organic products are inferior in quality to some consumers (Gitli and Arce, 2001).

In the period 2000 to 2003 individual studies conducted in Costa Rica clearly indicate that the average age of the consumer of organic products is 46 and 71 percent of the consumers are female. Also, 41 percent of organic consumers have to complement their organic purchase with conventional products, mostly due to problems of supply and variety in the organic market. In relation to education, 41 percent are university graduates and 35 percent high school graduates. In a month the average family of five members, makes an income of 437,687 colons, of which 204,868 is spent on food and 29,967 colons in organic foods. The average family in this survey has bought organic products for the five years and is willing to pay an added premium of 19 percent for organic foods. This variable was highly correlated with the level of income of the consumers. The survey results also indicated other factors that influence consumers to buy organic foods. The results of clearly indicate that 94 percent of the consumers in rural and urban areas define appearance (or how the food looks) as of the highest importance, while price was only defined as crucial by 73 percent of urban consumers and 89 percent of rural consumers (Aguirre and Herna´ndez, 2000; Aguirre, 2003).

In Canada, recent studies clearly indicate that 40 percent of all consumers purchase organic products regularly, that 48 percent of the organic consumers are between 35 and 45 years, 42 percent have university education, 42 percent have an income over 40,000 dollars, and 40 percent buy their food in supermarkets and 3 percent in organic farmers markets. The most important factors controlling the purchase of organic products are; 93 percent of the consumers surveyed stated taste as the most important and 90 percent of consumers are concerned about the use of agrochemical. A study conducted in 2003 showed that the two most important factors controlling the purchase of organic products are taste in 93 percent of the consumers and nutrition & health in 89 percent (Alberta Government, 2003).

Greene in the US found that 63 percent of the consumers believe that organic food and beverages are healthier than conventional (Greene, 2001). Other studies conducted in the same country found the following factors were important when purchasing organic fresh produce; price, size, packaging and whether the item is on sale (Estes and Smith Kerry, 1996). According to another study age, gender and college education have little impact on the decision to buy organic products. This study, specifically found that consumers with advance degrees are less likely to buy organic agricultural

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products. Furthermore, the study showed that the appearance of fresh produce had an impact on the purchase of organic products. Thus, the large number of cosmetics defects on organic produce negatively impacted the consumers’ willingness to buy (Thompson and Kidwell, 1998). Another study found that consumers with higher degrees, income, and education pay more for organic potatoes than conventional consumers. Moreover, Govandisamy and Italia (1990) found that smaller and higher income households are the most likely purchasers of organic products.

In the USA, two studies concluded that the new organic consumer, has a mean income US$47,000 a year, 56 percent are more likely to shop in grocery stores and supermarkets, 70 percent are females, 60 percent are married, 37 percent have children’s under the age 18 living at home and 38 percent shop some organic and natural products in both supermarkets and natural foods supermarkets. In terms of age there are two distinct groups who are most likely to buy organic products. The light consumers consist of peoples between the ages of 40-59 and the heavy consumers are typically under the age of 30. Educationally, 50 percent of the male consumers have a university degree and a slightly higher percentage of female consumers have university degrees. Another study by the Hartman Group indicted that the current barriers for purchasing organic products chiefly relates to price, availability, and consumer awareness (The Hartman Group, 1997, 2000).

The organic consumer demographics for Europe has been reported in various studies, and tend to clearly indicate that Europeans consumers below the age of 45 years buy motivated for environmental reasons as well as health reasons and those over 45 years that seem to be motivated by health reasons. At the same time, in Europe, the need for convenience foods and healthier eating patterns, due to changes in lifestyles are changing eating patterns, increasing health consciousness leads to consumers, to focus on food safety and on avoiding harmful chemicals. (Most studies market studies conducted to show that consumers buy organic products because of health considerations. (von Alvensleben, 1998; Sylvander, 1996; Coopers, Lybrand & Deloitte, 1992). Income seem to have conflicting impact while some studies report a positive effect (Wier and Calverley, 2002) others report no impact (Haest, 1990). The results from Haest (1990) show that a high education correlates with a tendency to buy organic products. In the case of price premiums the evidence reported in certain studies clearly indicates that a 5-10 percent premium will induce between 45-80 of consumers to buy organic products, a 30 percent premium will attract between 5-20 percent of consumers to buy organic products (Beharrell and McFie, 1991) Other results reported, tell that premium over 30 percent will attract and added 20 percent of consumers to buy organic products (Hack, 1995). In England, it was found that over half of the respondent were not willing to pay any premiums. On the other hand, after a very complete review of the existing evidence, what seem to be conflicting with results seems to be generated by country differences (Weir and Calverley, 2002). A study conducted in Europe in 2001 by the International Trade Center identified the most important characteristics and motivations influencing the purchase of organic products for several countries (ITC/FAO/CTA, 2001): .

Austria: freshness and rank health as their major concern; .

Belgium: freshness, price and physical appearance are its major considerations; .

Denmark: health, environmental concerns, animal ethics, quality and freshness;

. . . . . . .

France: quality and freshness; Germany: health and food safety; Italy: freshness; Holland: health and concern for the environment; Sweden: taste and wholesomeness; Switzerland: food safety and environmental concerns; and The UK: environmental concerns, food safety and health issues.

The purpose of this study is to provide local authorities, consumers, retailers and vendors of organic agricultural products with information that could be used for the development of long-term strategies for local organic market development based on the consumer profile information of buyers at the organic market as well as its evolution and motivations that moved them to start and continue purchase over an eight years period organic products. In order to identify reliable trends and prospective changes in quantity and quality of the profile of the organic consumer, that could be used local market developments strategies.

The objectives of the study were: . to identify the consumer profile characteristics and problems of Costa Rica farmers organic markets, over an eight-year period from 1999 to 2007/2008; and . to control the stability or change patterns of specific variables influencing the consumers expenditures in the farmers organic markets, over the period under study.

The hypothesis was: H1. The organic consumer profile in Costa Rica was fairly stable over time.

Materials and methods The interview procedure consisted in selecting people to participate in the survey randomly at the Organic Farmers Fairs of La Feria del Trueque, the largest market in the great metropolitan area of San Jose, dedicated solely to the sale of organic products, during the months of February. The Likert scale use had six levels (0 to 5). The initial survey consisted of three units: (1) socio-demographic and willingness to pay data; (2) product characteristics; and (3) motivations to purchase organic products.

Spanish and English copies of the surveys were available to take care of locals as well as foreign buyers.

The number of organic consumers in the country is not known since there are no official statistics being kept about this information. However, during the surveys conducted it was detected that in La Feria del Trueque, there were around 155 to 175 buyers every Saturday, which is the only day the farmers market operates, of which it was estimated that between 78 to 85 percent of all the customers interview, there were customers that have been buying organic products for at least five years so “new customers as such� accounted for 15 to 22 percent of those that were interviewed.

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(Aguirre, 2007). In theory, there are roughly 144,000 families with income, over US$2,000 a month, that could consume organic products but are not doing so. In a recent conversation with Wal Mart representative, they claim that their organic customers based on some very limited sales data available could be between 10,000 and 15,000 a year, many of which are repeated customers.

The length of the study presented initial methodological challenges, that were related to the fact that in 1999 little was known about the consumer profile of organic consumers in Costa Rica, therefore, the initial data relied on descriptive statistics, mostly histograms and ANOVA analysis of variance.

The two initial survey February 1999 and February 2000 analysis of variance did not detect significant differences at the 95 percent probability level in so far as the socio-demographic results between the February 1999 and February 2000 a total of 125 surveys was collected 999 and 125 for 2000.The second sets of surveys February 2004 and February 2005 analysis of variance did not detect significant differences at the 95 percent probability level in so far as the socio-demographic February 2004 and February 2005 data. A total of 280 surveys was collected 2004 and 200 for 2005.

The third and last set of surveys February 2007 and February 2008 analysis of variance did not detect significant differences at the 95 percent probability level in so far as the socio-demographic February 2007 and February 2008 data A total of 200 surveys was collected 2007 and 150 for 2008.

In order to detect the variables influencing the money spent on organic fresh fruits and vegetables products every month and rank their importance, a standardized restricted ordinal probit regression model was identified using the forward stepwise regression procedure. The semi-standardized restricted ordinal probit regression model with a normit/probit link, is simple and facilitates the ranking in importance of every variable following the technique suggested by Pample in its book, available in many computer software packages. In our case, Minitab 15 was used for the analysis.

One last methodological comment has to do with observations made to us by many users of the material., related to the transformation of Likert scale values into the average percent for each recognized category. Where five was taken as 100 percent, the idea of percent were easier to interpret for those not familiar with statistical techniques or scaling procedure and without question simplified the practical comparison. Hunter and Hamilton (2002) points out the advantages of standardizing the coefficients when one is dealing with causal analysis. One last methodological comment to do with observations made to us by many users of the material, related to the transformation of Likert scale values into the average percent for each category where five was taken as 100 percent. The idea of percent was easier to interpret for those not familiar with statistical techniques or scaling procedure and without question facilitated the practical comparison.

Results The general comparison of the consumer profile is being presented in Table I. The table results clearly indicated that, the 2004/2005 was a transition period in the trends watched while if one compare with a one way analysis of variance the two extreme values. The results are clear, and they seem to follow the following pattern in the comparison conducted between the results in 1999/2000 and 2007/2008. Age, a slight decrease from 47 to 44 years. Education university education is the prevalent level.

Socio-demographics

2007/2008

2004/2005

1999/2000

Age (years) Sex (%) Location (%) Education Years buying Average monthly income (US$) Family size Expenditures in groceries per week (US$) Expenditures in OP per week (US$) Premium (%)

44.3 48 men 62 OSJ University 5.8 1,976 3.2 114 43 25.1

46 39 men 58 OSJ University 4 959 4.1 62 20 18.3

47 38 men 48 OSJ University 4.5 845 4.7 60 18 15.3

70 70 80 90 90 80 70 70 70

67 NA NA 91 89 78 67 61 NA

66 NA NA 90 90 75 52 45 NA

95 100 100 100 100

97 98 97 97 95

96 98 98 98 98

Characteristics Appearance Colour Ripeness Quality Freshness Availability Presentation Price Spotless Reasons Protect environment Healthy products Improve health Non-chemicals Support producers

Years of buying from 4.5 to 5.8 a slight increase. All this three socio-demographic values were found to be not significantly different at the 95 percent probability level.

The ones that were found significantly different at the 95 percent probability level were: . sex, where men went from 38 percent to 48 percent; . geographical location,where the buyers from outside the great metropolitan area went from 48 to 62 percent; . family size that went from 4.7 to 3.2 members; . expenses in dollar equivalents per week that went from US$60 to US$114; . average monthly income of the family that went from US$845 to US$1,976; and . average monthly expenditures in organic fruits and vegetables that went from US$18 to US$43.

In relation with the characteristics that the consumer looks for in the products, the average values of appearance, presentation and price were found to be significantly different at the 95 percent probability, by the ANOVA analysis and the quality, freshness and availability were found by the same analysis to be significantly different. Colour, ripeness and spots were included in the 2007/2008 surveys on account

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Table I. Consumer profile at the farmers organic market, 1999 to 2008

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Table II. Willingness to pay and correlation between income level and WtoP, 1999 to 2008

of consumer comments. Therefore, there is no comparison available, it is important to point out that these three referred to the outside appearance of the fruit or vegetable clearly indicating an interest in this general element that we have not noticed before.

The reasons that motivate the purchase were not significantly different at the 95 percent probability, within and between recognized categories, this is an interesting finding because its clearly indicates that the health interest of the initial years is now taking on a much broader outlook, given the results of the ANOVA test conducted.

Table II, presented together the results for the percentage premium buyers were willing to pay over the period of the study and its correlation with the level of income.

The results clearly indicated that first the average premium that people were willing to pay, grew from the 1999/2000 surveys, level of 5.86 percent to 25.1 percent in the 2007/2008 survey. At the same time, the correlation coefficient between the income level and percent premium people were willing to pay was reduced from 0.43 ( p ¼ 0.037) in the 1999/2000 period, to 0.63 ( p ¼ 0.001) in the 2004/2005 period to 0.16 with a ( p ¼ 0.23). This indicates that, over time, the level of premium people is willing to pay, looses importance indicating that elements other than income are maybe be influenced the decision today.

Tables III and IV have to be presented together, since they present the results of the standardized registered ordered probit models derived in 2007/2008 in Table III and in Table IV, the comparison of the 2007/2008 results with the 2004/2005. The results indicate that the variables coefficients resulting from the 2007/2008 were all significant at the 95 percent level of significance or better and the general test conducted indicated that we had a very robust result.

The material in Table IV clearly indicated that the composition of the 2007/2008 and 2004/2005 standardized restricted probit models derived; in both cases explaining the average expenditures per family a month on organic fruits and vegetables, the variables were, non chemicals, protection of the environment, number of members in the family, presentation, price, time that the family have been buying organic, age and monthly expenditures in food. For the 2004/2005 period, the variables were quality, healthier products, price, monthly expenditures in food, awareness that products are organic and average monthly income.

Table V, presents the results of the main problems of the farmers organic products market that presented a frequency of 10 percent or better. As would be expected from WtoP % level

% 1999/2000

% 2004/2005

% 2007/2008

0 5 10 15 20 25 Over

30 14 19 8 5 4 20 100 5.86 R 2 ¼ 0.43 p ¼ 0.037

17 13 21 10 4 6 29 100 18.30 R 2 ¼ 0.63 p ¼ 0.001

24 7 22 4 11 6 26 100 25.10 R 2 ¼ 0.16 p ¼ 0.23

Average premium (%) S-sq Probability

Note: Rank ordered using Pample Rank Procedure

Percent 77.4 21.1 1.6 100.0

Number 43,565 11,869 882 56,316

DF

0.004198 0.01136 0.04696 1.2864E-06 0.02755 0.02834 0.06355 0.1190

999 999

20.016179 0.05599 0.18636 21.378E-05 0.15519 20.07160 0.28853 20.6640

Age TIMEBUYI FAMILYM AMOUNTSP PRESENTA PRICE PROTECTE NOCHEMIC Log 2 likelihood ¼ 2 848.439 Test that all slopes are zero: G ¼ 203.322, DF ¼ 8, p-value ¼ 0.000 Goodness-of-fit tests Method Pearson Deviance Measures of association: between the response variable and predicted probabilities Pairs Concordant Discordant Ties Total

Std dev

Chi-square 29177.119 1696.877

Probit coef

Variable

Summary measures Somers’ D Goodman-Kruskal Gamma Kendall’s Tau-a

P 0.000 0.000

2 3.85 4.93 3.97 210.71 5.63 2 2.53 4.54 2 5.58

Z

2 0.0000656 0.0005000 0.0072000 2 0.0000000 0.0030000 2 0.0014000 0.0168000 2 0.0726000

P 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.012 0.000 0.000

505

0.56 0.57 0.52

Rank ordered

Market trends and consumer profile

Table III. Restricted ordinal probit model variables rank ordered, for the 2007/2008 mega database

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Variables included in the probit model

Rank ordered 2004/2005

Quality Healthier products Price Monthly expenditures in food Awareness that products are organic Average monthly income

20.6414 0.6 0.4481 20.3192 20.2169 20.1882 Rank ordered 2007/2008 20.072 0.0168 0.0072 0.003 20.0014 0.0005 20.00006 0.00000

Non-chemicals Protected environment Family members Presentation Price Time buying organic Age Monthly expenditure in food Source: Aguirre (2007)

Problems Table V. Main problems as consumers perceived them

Availability Supply limited Limited variety High price Total

1999/2000 (%)

2004/2005 (%)

2007/2008 (%)

18 8 12 17 55

17 9 14 14 54

18 11 16 10 55

previous studies in Costa Rica and elsewhere the central problem was availability, follow by limited variety, limited supply and high price. The only interesting change is the reduction in the importance of high price perceived as a problem.

Discussion Rarely, if ever, economist have the opportunity to follow the behaviour of a given market for such a long time and is fortunate to detect clearer the trends in terms of consumer behaviour and its buying characteristics. The problem how can the trends appearing obvious in the 2007/2008 data can be explained. First, the most important change in the period is the increase in monthly income of the family that goes up by over 100 percent. This change aids explain to a great extent the new behaviour more incline toward, the idea of presentation, price and income, plus non chemicals and protection of the environment. In Costa Rica an average monthly income of US$1,976 dollars for an average family of 3.2 members is “a lot� of money. In 2006, the average monthly income of the average Costa Rican family was US$495. This is consistent with the fact that income is no longer present as a variable in the 2007/2008 equation price seems to be losing overtime the importance it seems to have had in the a decade ago.

This fact couple with the purchase by Wal-Mart of the largest food retailer in the country, and its policy of having organics products in all the stores, is probably affecting the consumer “tolerance” to accept less than better quality products and poorly presented items. The fact that in 2007/2008 non chemicals and the protection of the environment tend to clearly indicate that the consumer of organic products is not only very wealthy and highly educated, but a concern for both health and environment, without any question he can now afford “the luxury” of the environmental concerns, concerns that in the past concentrated more around the health issues. This was verified further by the fact that we found no significant differences between the average values for the reasons or motivations. One important “speculation” that seem to emerge from the data is the idea of health and “wellness” as a central element of any marketing strategy.

Another element that is beginning to surface is the change in geographical location. In the period 1999/2005 most of the consumer came from the metropolitan area, in 2007/2008, they came from the counties and towns that can be calling the “suburbia” to the metropolitan area. For the first time, we surveyed people that complain about the exact location of the market and clearly indicated that consumers have to come across town. In very general terms, analysis reveals like in Australia that while consumers believed organic foods to be healthy and environmentally sound – both of which were considered desirable – these characteristics are being impacted by a concern with convenience. This does not mean that consumers did not hold genuinely positive environmental attitudes.

Rather, it reflects a range of contradictory beliefs and practices that appeared to derive from the discursive conflict between conventional and organic food industries over environmental, health and safety claims.

The percent organic consumers have been willing to pay additionally for organic products over the equivalent conventional product price has always being a source of controversy. The material collected clearly indicated that during the period of the study have being a progressively increase in the what consumers are willing to add as a premium to the organic products, while in 1999/2000 the additional premium was around 5.6 percent by 2007/2008 is 25.1 percent. The period between 2003 and 2006 seems to have been a period of stable growth around 18 to 20 percent on the average as a result of the economic conditions of the country and the lack of interest and support on behalf of the government. However, with the “wellness trend” and the food and environmental crises facing the country today and the entire world, people seem to be willing to risk a little more to assure health and wellness, particularly those that can afford it. The income levels reported by those buying organic products, and the health scare and food crisis, are perhaps beginning to affect the organic farming consumers having him wanting more and healthier organic food today. The new consumer with a new found wealth can now afford to pay a higher premium than it did in the past without major concerns for its “general” quality of life or welfare and with a shrinking family, the situation is somewhat better for the producer, provided that he improves his presentation and improves supply and variety.

It is of the highest importance to remember that, what seems to be happening by the trends repeatedly observed is, that even though they seem to be loyal buyers, that have been buying organic products for about four or more years, they have the income and

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the education levels that puts them as potential buyers anywhere they choose to do so, nevertheless, they choose to buy at the organic farmers market. The question remains will this “very wealthy” keep itself as a loyal customer or will the energy, food crisis and location as they related to purchasing “convenience” or one-stop shopping, make a dent in their loyalty for buying at the farmers market. This is something that we cannot answer, but that is certainly an open question for vendors at the farmers market and for supermarket managers to genuinely think about these new conditions.

Conclusions The market of organic products in the country appears, after eight years of monitoring, to be subject to the following characteristics and trends: .

The main consumer segment consists of highly educated people with very high income and seems to be very concerned with health and environmental problems, with a smaller family and with men being more involved today than before in the purchase of organic products. This represents roughly less than 140 families of which less than 10 percent are probably buying organic products so there is a lot of room for improvement. .

The presentation of the products seems to be making progress in importance, over time. .

Consumers of organic products seem to be coming from suburbia more than from the metropolitan areas. .

The willingness to pay over the last eight years has increased significantly, from 5.85 percent in 1999/2000 to 25.1 percent in 2007/2008. .

Price levels and food expenditures continue to be concerns and clear determinants of the amount of money spent in organic products. For those making less than the equivalent of US$500 to US$600 a month, which is the equivalent of the country middle-class. .

Quality, presentation and availability seem to have increased in their importance, as reasons for purchasing organic products, indicating probably that with the very high income levels reported income and price maybe loosing their importance that had in the 1999/2006 period. .

Amount spent on organic products has more than doubled over the past eight years, clearly indicating an increasing demand that is not satisfied given the problems identified, such as lack of availability, limited supply and variety and high prices. .

The restricted semi-standardized probit procedure proves to be a very reliable technique for identifying the variables that affect the consumption of organic production, and appears to have the simplicity required for the type of information require.

Finally, after a decade of expansion the Costa Rica, organic products market is beginning to show signs of consolidation. However, with the energy and food crisis the country is experiencing, due to the high fuel prices, the convenience of one-stop shopping my affect the support for the organic farmers markets.

References Acevedo, O., Arias, M. and Hunter, S. (1998), “Estrategia de Mercado de Vegetales Orga´nicos para la Empresa Hortifruti”, S.A. Proyecto Final de Graduacio´n. Licenciatura en Administracio´n de Negocios, E´nfasis en Mercadeo y Finanzas, Facultad de Ciencias Econo´micas, Escuela de Administracio´n de Negocios, Universidad de Costa Rica, San Jose´.

Aguirre, J.A. and Herna´ndez, F. (2000), Estudio de Oferta y Demanda de Productos y Servicios Certificables en Centro Ame´rica, CATIE, CAD, RUTA, BANCO MUNDIAL, San Jose.

Aguirre, J.A. (2003), “Mercadeo y Consumo de Productos Agrı´colas Orga´nicos Mundial y en Costa Rica”, Condiciones a Junio del 2003. Servicio Fitosanitario del Estado, Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganaderı´a de Costa Rica, San Jose.

Aguirre, J.A. (2007), “The farmer’s market organic consumer of Costa Rica”, British Food Journal, Vol. 109 No. 2, pp. 145-55.

Alberta Government (2003), Organic Consumer Profile, Roping the Web, available at: www1. agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.bst/all/econ4930?opendocument, Agricultural Food and Rural Department.

Beharrell, B. and McFie, J.H. (1991), “Consumer attitudes to organic foods”, British Food Journal, Vol. 93 No. 2, pp. 25-30.

Collins, M., Edmonstone, A., Lane, A. and Morreale, C. (1999), The Real Dirt: An Analysis of the Current Organic Agriculture Industry in Costa Rica, Directed Research Report, The School for Field Studies, Atenas.

Coopers, Lybrand & Deloitte (1992), Going Organic – The Future for Organic Food and Drink Products in the UK, Coopers, Lybrand & Deloitte, Birmingham.

Estes, E. and Smith Kerry, V. (1996), “Price, quality and pesticide related health risk considerations in fruits and vegetables: a hedonic analysis of Tucson supermarkets”, Journal of Food Distribution Research, Vol. 27 No. 3, pp. 8-17.

Gitli, E. and Arce, R. (2001), Considerations on the International Marketing of Organic Products in Central America: Some Ideas on Costa Rica, Hemis/Herum Grupo Consultor, Centro Internacional de Polı´tica Econo´mica, Universidad Nacional, Heredia.

Greene, C.R. (2001), “US organic farming emerges in the 1990s: adoption of certified systems”, Agriculture Information Bulletin No. 70, Economics Research Service, Resource Economics Division, USDA, Washington. DC. Govandisamy, R. and Italia, J. (1990), “Prediction of willingness to pay a premium for organically grown fresh produce”, Journal of Food Distribution Research, Vol. 30 No. 2, pp. 44-53.

Hack, M.D. (1995), “Organically grown products: perceptions, preferences and motives of Dutch consumers”, Acta Horticulturae, Vol. 340, January, pp. 247-53.

Haest, C. (1990), “From farmer to shelf: trade of organically grown products”, Ecology and Farming, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 9-11.

(The) Hartman Group (2000), The Organic Consumer Profile: A Natural Study Conducted by the Hartman Group, Bellevue, WA. (The) Hartman Group (1997), The Evolving Organic Marketplace, A Hartman and New Hope Industry Study. Series Report, The Hartman Group, Bellevue, WA. Hunter, J.E. and Hamilton, M.A. (2002), “The advantage of using standardized scores in causal analysis”, Human Communication Research, Vol. 28 No. 4, pp. 552-61.

ITC/FAO/CTA (2001), World Markets for Organic Fruits and Vegetables, Opportunities for Developing Countries in the Production and Export of Organic Agricultural Products, Technical Center for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation, International Trade Center, Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, Rome.

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Sylvander, B. (1996), The French Organic Market: International Market Study, Camara de Comercio de Costa Rica, Biofair, San Jose.

Thompson, G.D. and Kidwell, J. (1998), “Explaining the choice of organic produce, cosmetic defects, price and consumer preferences”, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol. 80 No. 2, pp. 277-8. von Alvensleben, R. (1998), “Ecological aspects of food demand: the case study of organic foods in Germany”, available at: www.unikiel.de.:80/80.Agraroekonomie/Abteilungen/ agrarmarketing Wier, M. and Calverley, C. (2002), “Market potential for organic foods in Europe”, British Food Journal, Vol. 104 No. 1, pp. 45-62.

Further reading Aguirre, J.A. (2005), “Conociendo al Consumidor Orga´nico en Costa Rica: Aportes para una Estrategias de Desarrollo del Mercado Local Trabajo Presentado en el Seminario BioFach Ame´rica Latina”, paper presented at Secretos de la Comercializacio´n de Productos Orga´nicos en Centro America, Centro de Inteligencia de Mercados Sostenibles CIMS/INCAE, Alajuela, Costa Rica, Septiembre 29-30, 2005.

Corresponding author Juan Antonio Aguirre Gonzalez can be contacted at: jaguirre@racsa.co.cr

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