Abstract
Interest is growing in the relocalization of staple crops, including wheat, in western Washington (WWA), a nontraditional wheat-growing area. Commercial bakers are potentially important food chain intermediaries in the case of relocalized wheat production. We conducted a mail survey of commercial bakers in WWA to assess their interest in sourcing wheat/flour from WWA, identify the characteristics of bakeries most likely to purchase wheat/flour from WWA, understand the factors important to bakers in purchasing regionally produced wheat/flour, and identify perceived barriers to making such purchases. Sixty-one percent of survey respondents were interested in purchasing WWA wheat/flour. Bakers who used retail strategies to market their products were more likely to be interested in WWA wheat/flour compared to those not using retail methods. Bakers’ current purchases of Washington wheat/flour were not related to their interest in purchasing WWA flour. The most important factors bakers would consider in purchasing regionally produced wheat/flour were consistency of flour quality, quality of flour, and reliability of supply. Cost was the most frequently mentioned barrier to the purchase of regionally produced wheat/flour. Our results are relevant for other areas attempting to reconnect grain producers, commercial bakers, and consumers in mutually beneficial ways.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
The Tailored Design Method includes carefully timed mailings, personalized correspondence, visually appealing questionnaire layout, First Class postage, and other procedures to reduce survey errors from measurement and nonresponse (Dillman et al. 2009).
Respondents could select more than one role in the bakery.
We did not contact non-respondents to find out why they had not participated in the study. Identifying nonresponse bias (if present) would have helped our interpretation of the survey results.
Abbreviations
- EWA:
-
Eastern Washington
- WWA:
-
Western Washington
References
Adams, D.C., and M.J. Salois. 2010. Local versus organic: A turn in consumer preferences and willingness-to-pay. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 25(4): 331–341.
Bayne, N. 2010. Enriched. Chicago Reader. 10 August. http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/sarah-kavage-board-of-trade-grain-futures-art-project/Content?oid=2193300. Accessed 6 Dec 2011.
Bingen, J., and A. Siyengo. 2002. Standards and corporate reconstruction in the Michigan dry bean industry. Agriculture and Human Values 19: 311–323.
Blay-Palmer, A., and B. Donald. 2007. Manufacturing fear: The role of food processors and retailers in constructing alternative food geographies in Toronto, Canada. In Alternative food geographies: Representation and practice, ed. D. Maye, L. Holloway, and M. Kneafsey, 273–288. Oxford, UK: Elsevier.
Burrows, M. 2010. Their daily bread is a local call away. New York Times. 24 August.
Cantrell, P. 2009. Sysco’s journey from supply chain to value chain: Results and lessons learned from the 2008 National Good Food Network/Sysco corporation pilot project to source and sell good food. Wallace Center at Winrock International. http://www.ngfn.org/resources/research-1/innovative-models/NGFN%20Case%20Study_Syscos%20Journey%20From%20Supply%20Chain%20to%20Value%20Chain.pdf. Accessed 15 Apr 2011.
Compendium of Washington Agriculture. 2011. http://69.93.14.225/wscpr/WSCPRBook.cfm. Accessed 2 July 2012.
Dillman, D.A., J.D. Smyth, and L.M. Christian. 2009. Internet, mail, and mixed-mode surveys: The tailored design method, 3rd ed. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Elbehri, A. 2007. The changing face of the US grain system: Differentiation and identity preservation trends. Economic Research Report 35. Economic Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture.
Goldberger, J.R. 2011. Conventionalization, civic engagement, and the sustainability of organic agriculture. Journal of Rural Studies 27: 288–296.
Hanus, J. 2010. Want food security? Start seeing staples. Utne Reader. 5 March.
Hendrickson, M.K., and W.D. Heffernan. 2007. Concentration of Agricultural Markets. http://www.foodcircles.missouri.edu/07contable.pdf. Accessed 21 Apr 2011.
Hendrickson, M.K., and W.D. Heffernan. 2002. Opening spaces through relocalization: Locating potential resistance in the weaknesses of the global food system. Sociologia Ruralis 42(4): 347–369.
Henning, S. 2011. No Kansas whole-wheat flour, no doughnuts. Lawrence Journal–World. 18 June.
Hergesheimer, C., and H. Wittman. 2012. Weaving chains of grain: Alternative grain networks and social value in British Columbia. Food, Culture, and Society 15(3): 375–393.
Hills, K., A. Corbin, and S. Jones. 2011. Rebuilding the grain chain: Stories from the coastal Pacific Northwest. Rural Connections. September: 31–36.
Hinrichs, C.C., and T.A. Lyson (eds.). 2007. Remaking the North American food system: Strategies for sustainability. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.
IAASTD (International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development). 2009. Agriculture at a crossroads: Global report. Washington, DC: Island Press.
Ilbery, B., and D. Maye. 2006. Retailing food in the Scottish-English borders: A supply chain perspective. Geoforum 37: 362–367.
Inwood, S.M., J.S. Sharp, R.H. Moore, and D.H. Stinner. 2009. Restaurants, chefs and local foods: Insights drawn from application of a diffusion of innovation framework. Agriculture and Human Values 26: 177–191.
ISE Consultants. 2011. Draft feasibility study: North Olympic Peninsula wheat mill. Submitted to North Olympic Resource Conservation and Development Council. Port Angeles, WA.
Kaufman, F. 2010. The food bubble: How Wall Street starved millions and got away with it. Harper’s Magazine. July.
King, R.P., M.S. Hand, G. DiGiacomo, K. Clancy, M.I. Gomez, S.D. Hardesty, L. Lev, and E.W. McLaughlin. 2010. Comparing the structure, size, and performance of local and mainstream food supply chains. Economic Research Report 99. Economic Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture.
Kloppenburg Jr, J., S. Lezberg, K. De Master, G.W. Stevenson, and J. Hendrickson. 2000. Tasting food, tasting sustainability: Defining the attributes of an alternative food system with competent, ordinary people. Human Organization 59(2): 177–186.
Lyson, T. 2004. Civic agriculture: Reconnecting farm, food, and community. Medford, MA: Tufts University Press.
Marsden, T., J. Banks, and G. Bristow. 2000. Food supply chain approaches: Exploring their role in rural development. Sociologia Ruralis 40(4): 424–438.
Martinez, S., M. Hand, M. Da Pra, S. Pollack, K. Ralston, T. Smith, S. Vogel, S. Clark, L. Lohr, S. Low, and C. Newman. 2010. Local food systems: Concepts, impacts, and issues. Economic Research Report 97. Economic Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture.
Maye, D., and B. Ilbery. 2006. Regional economies of local food production: Tracing food chain links between ‘specialist’ producers and intermediaries in the Scottish-English borders. European Urban and Regional Studies 13(4): 337–354.
Measner, A. 2007. The global grain trade and the Canadian Wheat Board. In Our board, our business: Why farmers support the Canadian Wheat Board, ed. T. Pugh, and D.A. McLaughlin, 30–41. Halifax, Nova Scotia: Fernwood Publishing.
Mitchell, D.O., and M. Mielke. 2005. Wheat: The global market, policies, and priorities. In Global agricultural trade and developing countries, ed. M.A. Aksoy, and J.C. Beghin, 195–214. Washington DC: The World Bank.
Morris, C., and H. Buller. 2003. The local food sector: A preliminary assessment of its form and impact in Gloucestershire. British Food Journal 105: 559–566.
Mulvaney, D.R. 2008. Identifying vulnerabilities, exploring opportunities: Reconfiguring production, conservation, and consumption in California rice. Agriculture and Human Values 25: 173–176.
NRC (National Research Council). 2010. Toward sustainable agricultural systems in the 21st century. Washington, DC: National Academics.
Ostrom, M. 2006. Everyday meanings of “local food”: Views from home and field. Community Development 37(1): 65–78.
Qazi, J.A., and T.L. Selfa. 2005. The politics of building agro-food networks in the belly of agro-industry. Food, Culture and Society 8(1): 45–72.
Schnepf, R. 2009. Farm-to-food price dynamics. Congressional Research Service Report R40621.
Selfa, T., and J. Qazi. 2005. Place, taste, or face-to-face? Understanding producer-consumer networks in “local” food systems in Washington State. Agriculture and Human Values 22: 451–464.
Sharpe, R., D. Barling, and T. Lang. 2008. Ethical traceability in the UK wheat-flour-bread chain. In Ethical traceability and communicating food, ed. C. Coff, D. Barling, M. Korthals, and T. Nielsen, 125–165. The International Library of Environmental, Agricultural and Food Ethics. Volume 15. Berlin: Springer.
Starr, A., A. Card, C. Bnepe, G. Auld, D. Lamm, K. Smith, and K. Wilken. 2003. Sustaining local agriculture: Barriers and opportunities to direct marketing between farms and restaurants in Colorado. Agriculture and Human Values 20: 301–321.
State of Washington. 2011. Local government and special districts data book. www.ofm.wa.gov/databook/pdf/local.pdf. Accessed 2 July 2012.
Stevenson, S. 2009. Values-based food supply chains: Shepherd’s Grain. http://www.agofthemiddle.org/pubs/sgcasestudyfinalrev.pdf. Accessed 12 Dec 2011.
USDA-ERS (United States Department of Agriculture-Economic Research Service). 2009. Food availability. http://www.ers.usda.gov/Data/FoodConsumption/FoodAvailIndex.htm. Accessed 6 Dec 2011.
USDA-FAS (United States Department of Agriculture). 2011. World Agricultural Production. Circular Series WAP 10–11. November.
USDA-NASS (United States Department of Agriculture-National Agricultural Statistics Service). 2007. State Agricultural Overview. United States Department of Agriculture.
USDA-NASS (United States Department of Agriculture-National Agricultural Statistics Service). 2010. State Agricultural Overview. United States Department of Agriculture.
Vogt, R.A., and L.L. Kaiser. 2008. Still a time to act: A review of institutional marketing of regionally grown food. Agriculture and Human Values 25: 241–255.
Washington Grain Alliance. 2010. All about wheat. http://www.wawg.org/consumers.html. Accessed 30 Jan 2012.
Washington Grain Commission. 2010. Wide world of wheat. Wheat Life. June: 58.
Wolfe, T.M. 2011. The North Carolina organic bread flour project. The Laurel of Asheville. 1 April.
Wright, W., and G. Middendorf (eds.). 2008. The fight over food: Producers, consumers, and activists challenge the global food system. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press.
Acknowledgments
We would like to acknowledge the following individuals and organization for their assistance with this project: Carol Miles, Andrew Corbin, Steve Lyon, Andrew Ross, Jurgen Bettag, Jo Ferneau, Sheila Carder, Garrett Furuichi, Lucas Patzek, Jeremy Sage, Chris Savastio, and the Bread Bakers Guild of America. We also thank the anonymous reviewers and Harvey James for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hills, K.M., Goldberger, J.R. & Jones, S.S. Commercial bakers and the relocalization of wheat in western Washington State. Agric Hum Values 30, 365–378 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-012-9403-9
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-012-9403-9