A Profile of Local Dairy Consumers in the Southeast and the Potential for Dairies to Market Value-Added Products Locally

With many dairies in the Southeast and all over the United States thinking about started their own bottling and processing plants to produce processed dairy products to sell either directly to consumers or through local market outlets, analysis of the feasibility of these operations must be completed. Before these farmers should invest in such processing ventures they need to be able to determine the size of the potential market for their products. In order to determine the size and value of these markets and thus the feasibility of these dairy projects in the Southeast, an analysis of buyers' preferences for locally produced dairy products was performed. A telephone survey of household shoppers was conducted in the southeastern United States. Analysis of the survey data using economic modeling techniques showed that demographic variables are not dominant factors in determining who purchases local milk products. Instead, both the type of shopper and their attitudes toward local products affect the probability that the consumer will purchase local milk products