Perceptions of Genetically Modified and Organic Foods and Processes

Consumers in industrialized countries enjoy a plethora of food choices, with increasing availability of both organic products and those resulting from biotechnology. Genetically modified (GM) crops were first made available in 1996 to producers for use in major crops. Since introduction, production has exploded. In 2005, 124 million acres of biotech crops were grown in the United States alone (James, 2005). An estimated 61% of all corn and 89% of all soybeans planted in the United States in 2006 were GM (National Agricultural Statistics Service [NASS], 2006). As a result of the rapid adoption of GM technologies, a majority of processed food products in the United States are thought to include GM ingredients (Hallman, Hebden, Aquino, Cuite, & Lang, 2003). Similarly, the organic industry has also continued to grow and organic products are now common in retail food stores (Govindasamy, DeCongelio, & Bhuyan, 2005). Two-thirds of US consumers report using organic products, and 27% report being regular (weekly) users (The Hartman Group, 2002). The industry is expected to continue to increase its current annual growth of over 20% and reach $30 billion in sales in the United States by the year 2007 (Scheel, 2004). Both GM and organic foods and ingredients are thus increasingly available to consumers and for use by firms producing food products. The irony on the GM side is that growing segments of consumers seemingly want or potentially value a product that does not contain GM ingredients while producers have been producing record volumes of GM commodities and, with few notable exceptions, processors have been using them without substantial market reaction. The challenge on the organic side is that consumer-level organic markets are growing but production and processing are more expensive and the organic identity of the resultant food products must be maintained. There is a growing demand for organic food products, even at a premium price (Oberholtzer, Dimitri, & Greene, 2005), but the additional cost of supplying them must be met by increased market premiums (Hill & Lynchehaun, 2002). And, there is some evidence that price sensitivity for organic foods may be high at retail stores, at least for some food categories (Glaser & Thompson, 2000). A growing body of literature examines acceptance of and willingness to pay for non-GM and organic food products but it is still relatively limited and is often too general to be of much practical use or it is proprietary. And, to date, public domain research is limited which allows for direct comparison of attitudes about GM and organic foods and processes. This area of inquiry is particularly interesting because one of the unique attributes of, and one reason consumers may be moving towards, organic food is the absence of GM ingredients in them (Dhar & Foltz, 2005; Larue, West, Gendron, & Lambert, 2004) and there is some evidence that attitudes about organic foods can be a useful indicator of attitudes about GM foods (Burton, Rigby, Young, & James, 2001). Comparing attitudes about GM and organic foods and processes is the objective and major contribution of the current study. Jon C. Anderson Minnesota Crop Improvement Association