Consumers Don’t Want to Pay for Regenerative Ag

What is regenerative ag?

Survey says: Consumers don’t know and don’t care when it comes to paying for it.

Purdue University’s Center for Food Demand Analysis and Sustainability (CFDAS) recently surveyed 1,200 consumers across the U.S., diving into food spending, consumer satisfaction and values, trust in information sources, and support of agricultural and food policies. 

Findings: Forty-three percent of survey respondents said they were “not at all familiar” with the term “regenerative agriculture”, while 28% said they are “slightly familiar.” 

Put simply, 71% of consumers know little to nothing about “regenerative ag.” Yikes.

“Regenerative ag” defined: To date, there isn’t one “official” definition across the agrifood industry. It’s hard to market “regenerative agriculture” if no one knows what that means.

FYI: Purdue’s definition is “farming methods that result in improved soil health, carbon capture, improved biodiversity, and healthy water resources.”

And while consumers say they usually support regenerative ag initiatives, that support plummets when they have to pay for it. 

Putting it to the test, 56% of survey respondents said they’d pay more for a snack produced via regenerative ag. But when they had to choose between a $5 bag of conventionally produced or $5.50 for a bag of snacks produced with regenerative ag, 53% chose the lower-priced snacks.