Demand for specialty coffee worldwide is increasing, yet producers primarily located in developing countries struggle to cover their production costs and sustain their livelihood. Coffee producers are globally seeking higher profits by adapting their conventional production practices to be more socially and environmentally responsible. This dissertation aims to analyze the U.S. import demand for coffee and investigate consumer preferences and willingness to pay for coffee labels representing sustainability efforts. Chapter one introduces the coffee industry and the three chapters of this research. In the second chapter, I analyze the influence of consumers' values and the warm glow effect of giving on their willingness to pay for sustainable coffee using a non-hypothetical auction mechanism. I use an information treatment to test the effect of information on consumers' willingness to pay. Providing information increases the premium consumers are willing to pay for sustainable coffee. Regarding values, consumers that like coffee and experience the warm glow of giving are willing to pay a premium for coffee with a sustainability label. Using a hypothetical online choice experiment, in the third chapter, I investigate coffee consumers' preferences and willingness to pay for Fair Trade, Direct Trade, Rainforest Alliance and USDA Organic coffee. I find that consumers value sustainability labels that aim to solve social issues more than those whose primary goal is to solve environmental problems. I find that when two labels are together on a coffee bag, there is no effect on consumers’ utility. However, there is a positive effect on consumers' willingness to pay for coffee labeled simultaneously for Fair Trade and Organic, and simultaneously for Direct Trade and Organic. In the fourth chapter, I estimate coffee price elasticities between major coffee exporters to the U.S. and calculate pass-through import cost using a system-wide differential demand system. I compare imports of arabica and robusta green coffee and estimate the degree to which they complement each other or substitute one another. I find that arabica and robusta from Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico are substitutes but some exceptions show a complementary relationship. The inclusion of the exchange rate into the demand system has a significant effect on U.S. coffee demand. I find an incomplete pass-through cost of the exchange rate to U.S. import prices. Chapter six concludes by summarizing the results of this dissertation and discussing the future challenges for the coffee industry.

The objective of the following research is to analyze the credibility of Ellyn Satter’s Division of Responsibility feeding model and investigate its effectiveness when executed properly. Implementing this feeding model is proven effective in creating peaceful mealtimes, increasing healthy food relationships between children and food, and raising competent eaters. Being a competent eater helps to bypass larger lifelong struggles that threaten children’s health and safety – struggles like obesity, eating disorders, and chronic weight-related health conditions, making this research paramount in helping the children of the world fight the obesity epidemic that has been threatening their generation for more than a decade. It is an unfortunate fact that Ellyn Satter’s Division of Responsibility lack specifics research trials on its effectiveness. The research below is of significant interest because it highlights the effectiveness of this feeding model while addressing its credibility, achievability, and limitations in conjunction with stressing the need for more research trials to be conducted.

Research related to food deserts, areas with limited access to healthy and affordable food options, has focused primarily on issues of healthy food access, food quality and pricing, dietary outcomes, and increased risk for chronic diseases among residents. However, upstream challenges that might play a major role in the creation and perpetuation of food deserts, namely problems in the supply chain, have been less considered. In this qualitative study, researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with local produce supply chain representatives to understand their perspectives on the barriers to, and potential solutions for, supplying affordable produce to underserved areas in Phoenix, AZ. Through industry and academic experts, six representatives of the supply chain were identified and recruited to take part in one-hour interviews. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and coded into categories using a general inductive approach. Using the qualitative analysis software NVIVO to assist in data analysis, themes and subthemes emerged. Results suggested that considerable barriers exist among the representatives for supplying fresh, affordable produce in Phoenix-area food deserts, including minimum delivery requirements beyond the needs of the average small store, a desire to work with high-volume customers due to transportation and production costs, and the higher price point of produce for both store owners and consumers. Conversely, opportunities were identified that could be important in overcoming such barriers, including, tax or economic incentives that would make distribution into food deserts financially viable, infrastructural support for the safe handling and storage of fresh foods at existing retail outlets, and the development of novel distribution mechanisms for producers such as mobile markets and food hubs. Future research is needed to determine if these findings are representative of a larger, more diverse sample of Arizona produce supply chain representatives.

Private labels command a growing share of food retailers' shelf space. In this dissertation, I explain this phenomenon as resulting from "umbrella branding," or the ability of a single brand to reach across categories. Conceptually, I define umbrella branding as a behavioral attribute that describes a shopper's tendency to ascribe a performance bond to a brand, or to associate certain performance characteristics to a private label brand, across multiple categories. In the second chapter, I describe the performance bond theory in detail, and then test this theory using scanner data in the chapter that follows. Because secondary data has limitations for testing behavioral theories, however, I test the performance bond theory of umbrella branding using a laboratory experiment in the fourth chapter. In this chapter, I find that households tend to transfer their perception of private label performance across categories, or that a manifestation of umbrella branding behavior can indeed explain private labels' success. In the fifth chapter, I extend this theory to compare umbrella branding in international markets, and find that performance transference takes its roots in consumers' cultural backgrounds. Taken together, my results suggest that umbrella branding is an important behavioral mechanism, and one that can be further exploited by retailers across any consumer good category with strong credence attributes.