Organic Vs.

Conventional Research Proposal

Bailey Hawbaker
Background:
While in the grocery store one faces several decisions, a major one
being organic or conventional food choice. In the United States
specifically we have many people that are either homeless and
starving or wealthy and have no problem when finding something to
eat. Going to the grocery store, different age groups may have
different beliefs about organic and conventional. When going to the
store consumers need to decide on organically grown food which
contains no pesticides and only uses natural chemicals, or they can
choose the conventional food which provides higher yields and is still
proven safe to eat while usually found at a lower cost. In the past
several years there has been a push by society mainly provoked by
concerned consumers and social media to go organic when choosing
food at the grocery store. According to the editorial Organic Vs.
Conventional in Alternative Therapies In Health & Medicine,
consumers main concerns are about the pesticide residues being
greater in conventional food, resistance to antibiotics, and that from
the beginning of time farmers have been using organic practices, so
why switch to conventional? There are plenty of people that are
passionate about both sides of the argument, and through a lot of
research available consumers can form their own opinions.
Objective:
As a lot of society turns to healthier lifestyles their eating habits
change. Walking into a grocery store may be overwhelming to some
as there is an abundance of options to choose from. Research on both
farming practices is in abundance and may help consumers to form
their own opinion. Different age groups also buy different products at

the store. How do peoples opinions on buying organic vs. conventional

differ based on age group? A young college student is likely to buy
different food than their parents or even grandparents whether it is
because of a budget, or because of preference. It is important to
research the different ages buying habits from an economical
standpoint as there isnt a lot of research that has
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been done and we need to know how much to supply in the future to
meet the demand. According to the USDA in 2014 higher income
households spent an average of $5,992 on food while lower income
households spend about $3,667. This information does not specify
weather the food is spend mostly on organic or conventional, however
it does show that the higher income households, which are usually the
older adults. Since organic food is usually more expensive, this study
shows that higher income families would be more likely to purchase
organic food. This shows that with such a gap in the prices, farmers
will still need to supply both conventional and organic, but with the
numbers from this study, it will help farmers to decide which practice
would suite them better. Many consumers feel the need to buy organic
because they feel that conventional farming practices are not safe,
because of the chemicals used. However, there are several studies
that show both farming practices are safe to eat.
Project Summary/Methods:
Collection of Data
The subjects for this study will be college age students, consumers
from ages 25-40 and then ages 40 and above. Social media will be
heavily used to get the most responses as a lot of people in all of the
age groups are using some type of social media. On August 1st a
survey on Facebook and Twitter will be posted and I will ask my friends
to take this to help with the research. The survey will be shared once a

week to remind participants to take the survey, and I will ask them to
share so that I can receive more results. In addition to social I would
print off the surveys and take them with me on my travels to hand out
at events from the date of August 1st through August 25th where there
is an array of people in attendance. By doing this I am able to get
responses from more of a random group of people instead of just my
friends that I have a lot in common with. I will also be ale to interview
people in my classes such as other students and professors, especially
in my education classes where there is an array of content areas in a
room at a time so there are several different opinions. My goal is to
interview 6 different people with in depth
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questions about their grocery choices and I will choose the participants
at random selecting two college students, two people between the
ages of 25-40, and two older individuals, these questions will help me
to get more in depth idea of why each person choses what they want.
In this survey I want to have mostly multiple-choice questions with
areas to leave comments, this way it will not take long to answer the
survey, yet the takers of the survey are still able to state concerns or
thoughts if they wish. By having a survey in this form I am likely to
have more responses by keeping it short. The surveys will help me to
put together what the different age groups are looking for when they
go to the grocery store. With them being able to leave comments I will
be able to have strong thoughts from each age group, and hopefully
learn what their reasons are. I am hoping to receive at least ten
responses from each age group so that I will have plenty to work with.
I will have all surveys due by August 25th.
Survey Example:
For the survey, I would like to keep it broad, this way it does not take
long for the participants to respond and they will be more likely to take

the survey. The survey would start with asking how old the participant
is, and then it would go on to ask if the participant chooses organic or
conventional food at the grocery store. Another question on the
survey would be if the cost of food has anything to do with the choice,
and the final question would ask if there are any specific reasons why
they make their choices, then leave it open for them to add any
additional comments they have about the survey.
Interview Example:
For the interview, I want to get more in depth answers from the
participants. As stated earlier I would have two participants from each
age group to interview. During the interview, I would have them state
their age and profession so that I could get an idea of their household
income to see if that could be another factor in their decision. I would
then ask them, When walking into a grocery store, would
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you be more likely to purchase organic or conventionally grown food?
another question to ask would be, does your income play a factor
when deciding which to buy? these questions will help me to get a
feel of how the consumer is deciding to buy their groceries. I will then
go more in depth with the participant and ask how they feel about the
difference between organic and conventional farming practices. After
these questions are answered I will go more into a conversational
approach and piggy back off of the interviewee, by doing this I am
able to make the participant feel comfortable. They will be able to tell
me more in depth their beliefs and buying practices when they feel
more comfortable, instead of feeling scripted.
Method Reasoning:
The reason for using surveys is for simplicity. They are simple to make
and do not take long to fill out, I will provide many options for the

person to select while taking the survey. It is fairly easy to take a

survey because you will not be using a lot of your time and it also does
not take much thought on your part as it is completely opinion based. I
decided to use social media as it reaches a large group of people as
many age groups are now using the sites. Through the gathering of
this information I will be able to draw a conclusion on what the
different age groups decide to buy and why. Through the conclusions I
can gather whether the age groups are similar in their thoughts of
buying organic or conventional products, or if they differ. I will
also conclude what factors go into why they buy what they do between
age groups, whether it be budget or health concerns.
Ethical Considerations:
I should have little ethical considerations because there is no
mandatory participation with the surveys. Also, I will not be using
names so the participants will be completely anonymous. With being
anonymous it will take some of the pressure off, as they can be more
honest in their answers because they will not be named in the project.
The only ethical consideration I could see being a problem is by
surveying mostly friends and family. As a lot of this audience
possesses mostly
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the same qualities, therefore may have an impact in the survey. This is
why I will be asking for people to share my survey in order to get
others opinions to have a fair conclusion and pool of results.
Information:
With the information gathered, the data can be used to look at the
economic impact of different age groups. We can then use this data to
learn what consumers are looking for in the grocery stores, and where
the demand is going. By looking at the demand for both organic and

conventional food, farmers can make a more educated decision on

what to plant. If the study showed a larger demand for organic, then
more conventional farmers will look into switching their styles of
farming to help supply to the wants of society. Most consumers do not
change their buying habits very often; therefore it is important to study
the different age groups so that we know where the future demand will
go. While the younger groups may have a different outlook on what to
buy, they will be the ones the farmers will be supplying to both now
and into the future.

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Timeline:
Start Date

Completion

Task

7/18/16

Date
7/22/16

Complete and turn in rough draft of

7/22/16
8/1/16
8/1/16

7/29/16
9/1/16
8/25/16

proposal
Complete and turn in proposal final draft
Work on progress report
Fist post of survey onto social media

8/1/16

8/25/16

Start paper surveys asking people in

8/8/16
8/15/16
8/22/16

8/25/16
8/25/16
8/25/16

public to take
Second post of survey onto social media
Third post of survey onto social media
Final post of survey onto social media
page
Start evaluating data gained from

8/26/16
8/26/16
9/1/16
9/10/16
9/17/16

9/1/16
9/10/16
9/17/16
9/25/16
9/25/16

surveys
Hand in progress report
Turn in first draft of research report
Turn in final draft of research report
Work on presentation of findings
Presentation of findings

Working Bibliography
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October). Nitrogen soil surface balance of organic vs conventional cash crop farming
in the Seine watershed. Agricultural Systems, 139(Oct 2015), 82-92. Retrieved July 8,
2016, from
http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/science/article/pii/S030852
1X15000839
2.) Best, J. (2015, April 21). The Surprising Truth About Who's Really Buying Organic.
Retrieved July 22, 2016, from http://www.takepart.com/article/2015/04/21/who-isbuying-organic

3.)Campbell, A. (2012). Organic vs conventional. Alternative Therapies In Health &

Medicine, 18(6), 8-9 2p.
http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?
sid=5226afa3-21e1-4e20-97db-e782e0866aeb%40sessionmgr4004&vid=3&hid=4104
4.) Dettmann, R. L. (n.d.). Organic Produce: Who's Eating it? [Scholarly project]. In
Ageconsearch.umn.edu. Retrieved July 22, 2016, from
http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/6446/2/467595.pdf
5.) Gabriel, D., Sait, S. M., Kunin, W. E., & Benton, T. G. (2013, April). Food Production
vs. biodiversity: Comparing organic and conventional agriculture. Journal of Applied
Ecology, 50(2), april 2013, 355-364. Retrieved July 1, 2016, from
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezproxy.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/doi/10.1111/13652664.12035/full
6.) Gomiero, T., Pimentel, D., & Paoletti, M. G. (2011). Environmental Impact of
Different Agricultural Management Practices: Conventional vs. Organic Agriculture.
Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences, 30(1-2), 95-124, 95-124. Retrieved July 1, 2016, from
http://www-tandfonlinecom.ezproxy.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/doi/abs/10.1080/07352689.2011.554355
7.) Jolly, D. A. (2012, June 15). Consumer Profiles of Buyers and Non-Buyers of Organic
Produce [Scholarly project]. In UC Small Farm Program. Retrieved July 22, 2016, from
http://sfp.ucdavis.edu/marketing/organic_734/profiles_449/
8.) Lazzaro, A. Moretti, P. Giorni, C. Brera, P. Battilani, Organic vs conventional
farming: Differences in infection by mycotoxin-producing fungi on maize and wheat in
Northern and Central Italy, Crop Protection, Volume 72, June 2015, Pages 22-30, ISSN
0261-2194, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cropro.2015.03.001.
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261219415000757)
9.) National Agricultural Library | United States Department of Agriculture. (n.d.).
Retrieved July 01, 2016, from http://www.nal.usda.gov/
10.) USDA ERS - Chart: Food spending as a share of income declines as

income rises. (n.d.). Retrieved July 29, 2016, from

http://www.ers.usda.gov/dataproducts/chartgallery/detail.aspx?
chartId=40096