Environmental horticulture growers are interested in growing plants that benefit pollinators, but whether consumers know or care about ‘pollinator-friendly’ plants—at least enough to purchase them—is not clear. Our team has therefore prepared a survey to assess consumers’ knowledge about pollinators, as well as their willingness to pay for pollinator-friendly plants.
More specifically, this survey is being used to investigate whether introducing information about neonicotinoids use influences:
- a consumer’s purchasing decisions
- what kind of pollinator-friendly label a consumer prefers (e.g. a label that discloses the absence or presence of neonicotinoids, or a label with a logo rather than text)
- whether a consumer’s purchasing depends on prior beliefs/knowledge about neonicotinoids
We have begun surveying participants in a lab setting, where we can use special technology to track participants’ eye movements. By tracking participants’ eye movements over images that present various plant choices and labels, we can see which designs hold a consumer’s attention. We intend to offer the same survey online without eye tracking, where we can substantially add to the number of people that may participate in the study.
Preliminary results will be available summer 2018.
Researcher: Dr. Hayk Khachatryan
State: FL
