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市场营销 Professors Study Customer Perceptions of Local, Sustainably Farmed Fish

与海洋, 河流, and lakes rapidly being depleted of fish as a result of over fishing, and consumers’ preference for fresh source-to-table fish and concern for climate and natural resources, is there a way to solve this problem and bring joy to the palate? Associate Professors of 市场营销, Jeff Meyer和Fei Weisstein along with other researchers at BGSU say – Aquaponics”.

Aquaponics”, a system that uses fish and prawns to help grow plants, shows promise for producing food locally and sustainably. Compared to traditional farming, aquaponics uses fewer chemicals, 更少的水, 更少的能量, 并且可以全年使用. Thus, aquaponics has the potential to benefit farmers, consumers, and the environment. But for this to work, people have to be willing to buy food grown in this new way. Several factors affect what people buy, 比如味道, 价格, 可用性, 健康问题, and concern for the environment.

Drs. Weisstein和Meyer, along with faculty members from the departments of Public and Allied Health and Biological Sciences are collaborating on aquaponics research projects funded by grants from the U.S. Department of Commerce NOAA Sea Grant Program and U.S. Department of Agriculture CIG Federal Grant Program. The objective of the research is to promote the economic growth of aquaponic food production. Drs. Weisstein和Meyer contribute marketing and business development expertise to the projects. Weisstein拥有博士学位.D. in marketing from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research focuses on pricing and marketing strategy, sustainable and social marketing, and digital and social media marketing. 迈耶获得了博士学位.D. 我在德克萨斯州做市场营销&米大学. His research interests include services marketing, pricing, technology, and sustainability.

As part of their grant projects, Drs. Weisstein和Meyer are studying how messaging can change how people think about the quality, 味道, 鱼菜共生鱼的价格. 在盲品测试中, people could not tell the difference between fish that was caught in the wild, 在农场长大, or grown in an aquaponic system. They did find, though, that messaging about the farming method is important. Drs. Weisstein和Meyer say “Consumers’ attitudes shifted after learning how the three farming practices impacted the environment. When consumers were unfamiliar with aquaponic fish, they believed it was inferior to both traditional farm-raised fish and wild-caught fish. But after people learned about the environmental benefits of aquaponics, they thought the fish were better tasting and healthier, and were more likely to buy aquaponic fish than wild-caught or farm-raised fish.”

下一步是什么?? In the next phase of the projects, Drs. Weisstein和Meyer will investigate the quality and consumer perceptions of tomatoes grown in an aquaponic system. They are excited about these projects and research opportunities that take the aquaponic system out of the BGSU lab. “The projects allow us to study not only the technical aspect of aquaponics, but also how consumers perceive aquaponics and their purchase decision-making processes, which is crucial from a business perspective,”医生说。. Weisstein. Their research will help communities in recognizing aquaponics as a sustainable way to grow food that is both environmentally and economically viable and beneficial to society.