The objective of this survey was to determine the levels of liking and willingness to pay for selected garden chrysanthemum (Dendranthema ×grandiflorum) cultivars, and to measure relative infl uence of socioeconomic characteristics on consumer preferences and valuations. The survey was conducted during the 2003 Fall Flower and Garden Fest at the Truck Crops Experiment Station in Crystal Springs, Miss. Nine garden chrysanthemum cultivars were presented to 579 survey participants in three pot sizes. Respondents preferred `Mithra Maroon', `Venus Purple', `Amory Yellow White', `Adonis Purple', and `Road Runner Bronze' more than `Night Hawk Lemon', `Freya Salmon', `Amata Purple', and `Starlet Ivory'. Of the five preferred cultivars, however, respondents were willing to pay more for `Mithra Maroon', `Road Runner Bronze', and `Amory Yellow White'. Consumers of White or Caucasian origin liked the cultivars less and were willing to pay less for them as compared to other respondents who reported other racial origins, primarily Native Americans and African Americans. The levels of liking for the cultivars were similar for participants of different gender classification, but female respondents were willing to pay more for the cultivars. Respondents who previously bought chrysanthemums reported higher level of liking for the cultivars but were not willing to pay more for them. Participants who were interviewed on Saturday liked the cultivars more but were willing to pay less than those who were interviewed on Friday. Larger-sized households tended to like the cultivars less and were not willing to pay more for the cultivars. Respondents did not like the cultivars in larger-sized pots and were not willing to pay more for plants in larger-sized pots included in the survey.
Assessing Consumer Preferences for Country-of-Origin Labeling
