Browsing by Subject "Strawberry"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Estimating market equilibrium values of fruit attributes for apple and strawberry using choice experiments with consumers and producers
    (2015-01) Choi, Jong Woo
    Rosaceous fruits, which comprise some 90 genera with over 3000 distinct species, are one of the most important plant families and constitute the economic backbone of some U.S. rural areas. Apples and strawberries are two of the most important Rosaceous fruits. To meet the dynamic consumer demand, and to keep apple and strawberry industries sustainable, innovation through development and commercialization of new cultivars has become an increasingly important strategy. We used choice experiments to collect consumer and producer preference data, and then employed mixed logit models to analyze the choice experiment data and simulate each individual producer's and consumer's WTP for the fruit attributes. Based on the simulation results, we derived the supply and demand curves for each fruit attribute, synthesized consumers and producers' WTP information, and derived the equilibrium prices and quantities for each fruit attribute. The apple attributes included in the choice experiments were appearance, crispness, firmness, flavor, shelf-life, size, and price. The strawberry attributes were external color, internal color, firmness, flavor, shelf-life, size, and price. The choice experiment data was collected through a combination of mail-in and online surveys with growers and online surveys with consumers. In total, we got 321 completed apple grower surveys, 86 completed strawberry grower surveys, 801 completed apple consumer surveys, and 1137 completed strawberry consumer surveys. We found producers prefer apples with longer shelf-life and intense apple flavor. Consumers prefer very crisp apples and apples with intense apple flavor. Producers prefer strawberries with intense strawberry flavor and high firmness. Consumers prefer strawberries to have ideal red internal and external color. After incorporating both consumer and producer preferences and WTP information, we found that for apples the highest equilibrium price is for crispness, and for strawberries the highest equilibrium price is for internal color.By estimating the equilibrium prices and quantities, total revenue and total surplus for each fruit attribute, we successfully synthesize producers and consumers' WTP results. Our results provide important information on what attributes would generate the highest total revenue or social surplus so that breeders can allocate their resources accordingly to focus on the improvement of these attributes.
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    Flavor changes in stored extended shelf-life flavored milks
    (2014-07) Strohman, Deena Ruthanne
    Raw, reduced-fat milk with added strawberry flavor and color, gums, sucrose, and vitamins was pasteurized at 89°C for 13 seconds and then stored for 1 to 4 weeks at 4-7°C. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to quantify changes in aroma compounds during storage. A trained descriptive panel was used to monitor sensory changes (or preferences) during storage. The quantity of strawberry aroma compounds remained constant during storage, but our trained descriptive panel found that strawberry flavor decreased. Milk with strawberry flavor added just prior to tasting was described as being sweeter, having more strawberry notes, and having less other off-flavors than milk with strawberry flavor added before pasteurization.
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    Market Analysis and Productivity of Aquaponics in Minnesota
    (2018-09) Abbey, Marie
    Aquaponics, the combination of hydroponics and aquaculture into one growing system, continues to gain popularity on both a hobby and commercial scale. Many studies have been conducted to improve production methods, but few have examined consumer preferences for and attitudes toward aquaponics. The first chapter contributes knowledge to this area with results from an experimental auction that explored consumer preferences and identified potential market segments, with each segment having distinct preferences for produce grown in aquaponics systems. Using latent class analysis, participants were segmented into three classes. Two classes (totaling 70% of participants) were willing to pay more for aquaponically-grown lettuce than for the potting soil-grown counterparts; however, all bids were relatively low for a premium lettuce product. For all three segments, consumers’ increased rating of lettuce appearance and flavor had a significant positive impact on their bids. Consumers willing to pay the highest price premium reported the highest environmental concerns and product quality. Typical horticulture aquaponic production focuses on leafy greens and herbs with no known studies on the production potential of strawberries (Fragaria ✕ananassa Duchesne) or any other perennial crop. The second chapter compares day-neutral strawberry yield of ‘Albion’, ‘Evie 2’ and ‘Portola’ in aquaponic productions with different variables of strawberry yield in greenhouse production using soilless medium. There was no addition of supplemental nutrients or pollinators to the systems in order to evaluate the differences between treatments. We found a significant difference among cultivars in number of fruit, fresh fruit weight, and dry fruit weight with ‘Evie 2’ having the highest yield in all. There was no significant difference in the number of fruit produced by strawberries grown in soilless medium and those grown aquaponically. We did, however, find that aquaponic strawberries had a significantly higher fresh fruit weight while strawberries grown in soilless medium had a significantly higher dry fruit weight. This indicates that strawberries grown in soilless medium have a higher mass to water ratio, although aquaponic-grown strawberries can have a higher fresh weight yield.