Farm in Wellington, Ohio (photo by George M. Bosela, courtesy of morguefile.com)

It probably comes as no surprise that recent research has concluded that Americans prefer to buy fruits and vegetables from local farmers and are willing to pay premium prices for guaranteed fresh produce.

An article published by Ohio State University also found that American consumers “tend to favor buying food produced by small farms over what they perceive as corporate operations.”

The study was conducted by Ohio State's Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics and was published in the May issue of the American Journal of Agricultural Economics.

Marvin Batte, a co-author of the study and the Fred N. VanBuren professor of agricultural, environmental and development economics at Ohio State University. "We are not saying that we should be producing all of our foods locally, just that this may be a viable, profitable activity for farmers."

If you’d like to read the article published by Ohio State University cited above go to: Average shoppers are willing to pay a premium for locally produced food