The Reason for Existence of the Buying Community Type Local Food Systems in Light of Consumer Attitudes and Preferences

Abstract

This study is focused on the necessity of the development and the formation of “net-bag” type local food systems and presents partial results of my surveys analyzing the consumer attitudes to local Hungarian foods, as well as the reputation of consumer communities. The enhancement of the conscious food consumer needs, simultaneously with the dilemmas of the sustainability of the current food supply systems and the fact that retailers are pushed into the background have aroused my research interest. During the survey, I conducted a questionnaire with the consumers in four towns where consumer communities had already existed, namely Kecskemét, Esztergom, Érd, and Csömör by involving 54 students (sophomores of BA in Rural Development and Agribusiness at Szent István University in Gödöllő, Hungary). The aim of the research was to demonstrate how the consumers in the urban and rural places with different territorial and demographic characteristics are related to locally made food products and how important it is for them to consume and to access these goods. In the above-mentioned consumer communities, the high value-added products of local producers (as well as those living around) are available; consequently, regarding the exploitation of spreading/developing possibilities, it is essential to know whether there is a need/demand for these food products among consumers. Two of the above-mentioned sample locations, Érd and Csömör, belong to the agglomeration of Budapest that is a key regarding the examination. The main issue is whether consumer communities in these special places have a reason for existence or not.

Keywords

• consumer communities
• local food systems
• food consumer behaviour and attitude