Affordable Sustainability? Can Marketing Messages Improve Market Access for Regional Producers and Better Serve Rural Consumers?

This study examines how consumers across income groups respond to sustainability-related food labels and claims in local food purchasing decisions. Using a field experiment conducted in Solano County, California, the analysis combines stated preference measures, including perceived quality and willingness to pay (WTP), with revealed preference measures based on actual purchase decisions. Participants evaluated strawberry baskets before and after exposure to different combinations of sustainability-related labels and claims, including the USDA Organic seal and the Sustainable Solano logo. The results suggest that sustainability-related labels generally increase both perceived quality and WTP relative to unlabeled products, although the effectiveness of different labeling strategies varies. The USDA Organic seal generates the strongest improvements in perceived quality, while combining local sustainability claims with the USDA Organic seal produces largest increase in WTP, suggesting that monetary valuations reflect not only perceived product quality but also broader consumer values, such as support for local farmers and regional food systems. The findings also reveal substantial heterogeneity across income groups, with lower-income consumers exhibiting stronger responses to label information than higherincome consumers. At the same time, the results highlight an important distinction between stated and revealed preferences. Although labels improve product evaluations and valuations, their effects on actual purchase decisions remain relatively limited, suggesting that consumer purchasing behavior may be more resistant to change than stated evaluations alone would imply.