Insights from consumer research that you can take home to the farm!
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Cross-Industry Insights
What consumer-derived lessons can we draw from non-traditional places to garner understanding and insights for those in agricultural business? I’m Dr. Nicole Widmar, and I have an affinity for taking lessons from other industries and applying them in agriculture. Come along with us here in Consumer Corner to think differently about how consumer research can help inform your decision making.
October 25, 2021
Letter
What Fun Awaits on Halloween 2021 Weekend?
We are looking at online news and social media surrounding the holiday season again in #2021. First up is Halloween... Read More »
October 18, 2021
Letter
Knock it Off With all the “Normal” Talk
Are we returning to normal? Is this price response/change normal? Seriously, this is the big return to normal of Fall 2021? If so, I’d like to order something... Read More »
October 11, 2021
Letter
Getting to the WHY Behind Consumers’ Decisions: How Qualitative Data Can Help
The world is awash in data, but what is data? Datasets comprised of numeric entries get much of the attention in economics, yet there is more to data than numbers and more than one methodology to be... Read More »
October 4, 2021
Article
Social Values & Mask Wearing in 2020: A Data Visualization
Over the last several months, we have worked to employ economics and decision making principles and frameworks to help understand pandemic-era social decisions from how we shopped for meat and eggs... Read More »
September 27, 2021
Letter
Breaking News: People Like Tasty Food…No, Really.
People liking things that taste good seems obvious, but it’s actually something that too frequently gets assumed by folks interested in studying diets and health. Offended by this seemingly obvious... Read More »
September 20, 2021
Letter
‘Big Data’ in Animal Industries: Scale is Challenging, But Use is Wicked
Animal industries from livestock to pets to wildlife management have delved into data-driven decision making, wielding larger and more complex datasets; yet, it is not obvious what big data is, nor... Read More »
September 13, 2021
Letter
‘Big Data’ in Animal Industries
Agriculture, food, health, transportation/logistics and animal industries are all awash in data whether they’re harnessing it in a usable way or not. Just as your smartphone generates a massive... Read More »
September 7, 2021
Article
A Glimpse into Modern Meat Science at Boiler Butcher Basics 2021
A popular topic in the media these days is meat processing. COVID-19 stressed supply chains around the world in a variety of industries, but the agricultural industries and meat industries in... Read More »
August 30, 2021
Letter
#FoodSafety in Online Media Space
We first dove in-depth on Consumer Corner into online and social media analytics when we covered an analysis and resulting publication that looked at online media mentions and net sentiment alongside... Read More »
August 23, 2021
Letter
Purposefully Not Consuming: Plausible Use of Economics to Understand Minimalism
The concept of consumer behavior is, perhaps, a bit overused. Consumer behavior correctly refers to the behavior of a consumer of a service, product, or even information, media or art. For example,... Read More »
August 16, 2021
Letter
You Weighed in on Pandemic-Induced Lifestyle Adaptations: Here’s What You Said…
By now it’s clear that ‘old normal’ ala 2019 is not returning. We are attempting to cultivate ‘new normal’ ala 2021 instead but with varying degrees of kicking, screaming and mourning of... Read More »
August 9, 2021
Letter
Big Dog Data is Driving Advancements in Human Health Through Translational Medicine
Many opportunities exist in the field of veterinary medical big data where information collected from companion animals, especially dogs, can be used to inform healthcare decisions in humans. Dogs... Read More »
August 2, 2021
Article
An Attempt at Balanced Discussion of Tradeoffs Surrounding Buying Local
In the not-too-distant past, buying local wasn’t a trend — it was just the way we lived. Common practice for the human existence was to grow, hunt or gather what you could in your local... Read More »
July 26, 2021
Letter
COVID-19 Consumer Behavior Contributions: June 2020 – July 2021 Summary
Consumer behavior has been reshaped multiple times now during the COVID-19 pandemic-era, just as it has during past societal crises … recall how Victory Gardens (aka War Gardens) during WWII and... Read More »
July 19, 2021
Letter
How Important is Each Factor to You When Purchasing Local Products?
Consumers purchase local food products for a variety of reasons. We asked 484 Indiana residents “How important is each factor to you when purchasing local products?”. Respondents were asked to... Read More »
July 12, 2021
Letter
We Eat Oysters, so Why Not Crickets?
As the periodical cicadas emerged from the soils of the northeastern U.S. after their 17th year underground, some people came to observe, some came to study and some came to eat. Recipes were shared... Read More »
July 5, 2021
Article
Data Analytics in Ag on Your Schedule: The Data-Driven Agriculture Digital Ag Webinar Series
Here at Consumer Corner, we value the cross-pollination of ideas, open-access materials freely available for public consumption and (of course) data-driven decisions. Recently, I was thrilled to be... Read More »
June 28, 2021
Letter
What’s Stopping You From Buying Local?
In the midst of an ongoing health crisis that has stressed agricultural supply chains and processing facilities and launched consumers into panic, questions have been raised regarding the increased... Read More »
June 21, 2021
Letter
Market Complication: Chicken Wings Come From Actual Chickens
Chicken wings are popular in bars, at restaurants and (obviously) even in restaurant themes with the increasing number of restaurant chains devoted to the wing as its spotlight (or only) feature.... Read More »
June 14, 2021
Letter
Which Local Products Resonate Most with Indiana Consumers?
Lately — especially given the ongoing debates about national food supply chains during COVID-19 — there’s much ado about local production and processing, adding to the already rich and varied... Read More »
June 7, 2021
Letter
You Demanding, Fickle and (at Least Somewhat) Uninformed Consumer, You.
We’re now a whole year old here at Consumer Corner; first launched on June 1, 2020 with our Welcome Letter that flatly stated for the first of many times in one form or another,... Read More »
May 31, 2021
Article
Don’t Eat Random Mushrooms
One year ago, Consumer Corner was born to bring you consumer-derived insights drawn from non-traditional places to garner understanding for those in food and agricultural business. If you’ve hung... Read More »
May 24, 2021
Letter
Have You Hugged Your iPhone Today?
Have you hugged your iPhone today? Silly question, because of course you have. In fact, your iPhone was the last thing you saw before you fell asleep and the first thing you saw when you woke up. You... Read More »
May 17, 2021
Letter
Hey, Ag Industries! Don’t be All Hat, No Cattle
Hey, Ag Industries! Don’t be All Hat, No Cattle when it comes to public-facing communication. What if we told you that you are all hat, no cattle? Well, that burns, doesn’t it? It insinuates that... Read More »
May 10, 2021
Letter
What is Data Anyway?
Everything is about data these days — data-driven decision making, impassioned arguments about whether public policy decisions are ‘based on data’ or ‘supported by the data’, etc. But what... Read More »
May 3, 2021
Article
Practicing What We Preach: Inviting Feedback on our COVID-Induced Adaptations
You've heard it a million times by now — "Life sure does look different than it did a little over a year ago!" That's because it does. And as we seemingly creep in to a time filled with less panic... Read More »
April 26, 2021
Letter
If a Picture’s Worth 1,000 Words, What Words Would They Be?
We know that our words matter. We also know that a picture is said to be worth 1,000 words, and we use pictures in marketing materials and to convey information all the time. But do we really know... Read More »
April 19, 2021
Letter
Travel, Paper Products, Schooling Kids and Caretaking: Daily Life Impacts of COVID-19 in 2021
In Summer 2020, we shared data about the daily impacts of the pandemic on our lives including less travel and concerns about finding and buying perishable products and toilet paper. From our June... Read More »
April 12, 2021
Letter
Societal Values & Personal Risky Behaviors Unchanged in 6 Months of Pandemic Era, Except We’re Drinking More Alcohol
After previous analyses of human behaviors surrounding mask wearing to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the summer of 2020, we began exploring how to assess individual’s perceptions of personal... Read More »
April 5, 2021
Article
Purdue Pete and Pistol Pete — The COVID-19 Vaccine Edition: Vaccine Intentions by Purdue and OSU Territories vs. Rest of the U.S.
In the summer of 2020, we reported on the mask wearing beliefs and intentions of residents of two regions, namely Purdue University and the states surrounding Indiana and Oklahoma State University... Read More »
Contact Us
Nicole Olynk Widmar
ASSOCIATE HEAD AND PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS
Phone: (765) 494-2567
Email: nolynk@purdue.edu