Abstract #M295

# M295
Agritourism: Demographics and views of customers—In-depth look at Fair Oaks Farms.
Ann Cummins*1, Nicole Widmar1, Candace Croney1, Joan Fulton1, 1Purdue University, W. Lafayette, IN.

This research will use data from 3 mutually exclusive data sets, where all are representative of households in a given sample for age, sex, income, and region of residence. The 3 samples only differ in geographical location (National Survey n = 1004, 5-State Survey n = 1029, Indiana Survey n = 797). Through this presentation, we will highlight the rates of attendance at a variety of agritourism locations (i.e., national parks, museums, amusement parks, livestock farms, pick-your-own farms) and look at the demographics of those who attend these attractions, including an in-depth look at Fair Oaks Farms (FOF). In this survey we have questions which gather respondents self-reported perceptions of how well educated they are about agriculture and livestock production and questions which test their general knowledge level. We will look at consumers who attend livestock agritourism locations to see if they care more about animal welfare but are misinformed about production practices or if they care more about animal welfare and are more informed. The methods used for this research are the survey data collected and analysis via z-scores and cross tabulations. A brief highlight on the national sample includes that 15% of the sample had heard of FOF and 7% had attended FOF, we see that those who had been to FOF tended to be male, from the younger age categories, they tended to have pets, and were more highly concerned about animal welfare. They are less supportive than those who had not been to FOF for the growth of livestock agriculture in their county, but tended to more strongly believe in the importance of agriculture in the state which they reside as well as tended to be high dollar food purchasers in the supermarket.

Key Words: agritourism, consumer demographics, perceptions