Dawn Thilmany McFadden is a Professor of Agribusiness and Agribusiness Extension Economist with Colorado State University, serving in that role since 1997, and specializes in analyzing markets, consumer behavior and economic development related to local, organic and other value-added food market segments. She has published over 80 journal articles on consumer behavior, agricultural markets and food systems, and presented similar material to over 200 Extension audiences.She is on the leadership team of the CSU Extension Food Systems work team and Chairs the Colorado Food Systems Advisory Council. Currently, she serves the US Dept of Agriculture by sitting on the Secretary’s Advisory Board on Research, Extension, Education and Economics. She has served on Boards and in leadership positions with the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, the Western Agricultural Economics Association, the Food Distribution Research Society and several regional research committees.
This article seeks to provide a general overview of trends in the agritourism industry and to rev... more This article seeks to provide a general overview of trends in the agritourism industry and to review some emerging literature on the topics noted in the previous paragraph. The data for this work was gathered partially from secondary sources (i.e. the USDA’s Census of Agriculture), as well as from a survey on agritourists in the Western U.S. and an additional producer survey on Californian and Coloradan agritourism farms and ranches. Some aspects of this article focus on the western U.S., and at times specifically on California and Colorado, which are particular regions of interest for studying agritourism, but many of the findings can be generalized to the rest of the U.S. In the following sections, the article examines 1) general industry trends, 2)importance of community, location, and farm attributes, and lastly 3) a look at some interesting aspects of agritourism producers in California and Colorado.
The authors analyze data from an in-store experiment in Colorado to estimate willingness to pay f... more The authors analyze data from an in-store experiment in Colorado to estimate willingness to pay for local and organic labels in fresh apples, and investigate consumers' motivations. They found that the value of the local trumps that of organic, and motivations for valuing ...
Rural development has received renewed attention, particularly in the West, where there are oppor... more Rural development has received renewed attention, particularly in the West, where there are opportunities for enhancing tourism in communities once reliant on extractive resources. The historical focus of rural development has been on economic growth, with little concern about the sustainability or socioeconomic impacts of such growth. This study analyzes and discusses the employment dynamics of rural economies with varying employment bases to illustrate some possible impacts of targeting specific employment sectors as part of a rural economic development strategy. The empirical research focuses on the rural counties of Utah, where the trade and service sectors associated with increased tourism and retirement communities have been rapidly expanding throughout the past two decades. Copyright 1998, Oxford University Press.
This article seeks to provide a general overview of trends in the agritourism industry and to rev... more This article seeks to provide a general overview of trends in the agritourism industry and to review some emerging literature on the topics noted in the previous paragraph. The data for this work was gathered partially from secondary sources (i.e. the USDA’s Census of Agriculture), as well as from a survey on agritourists in the Western U.S. and an additional producer survey on Californian and Coloradan agritourism farms and ranches. Some aspects of this article focus on the western U.S., and at times specifically on California and Colorado, which are particular regions of interest for studying agritourism, but many of the findings can be generalized to the rest of the U.S. In the following sections, the article examines 1) general industry trends, 2)importance of community, location, and farm attributes, and lastly 3) a look at some interesting aspects of agritourism producers in California and Colorado.
The authors analyze data from an in-store experiment in Colorado to estimate willingness to pay f... more The authors analyze data from an in-store experiment in Colorado to estimate willingness to pay for local and organic labels in fresh apples, and investigate consumers' motivations. They found that the value of the local trumps that of organic, and motivations for valuing ...
Rural development has received renewed attention, particularly in the West, where there are oppor... more Rural development has received renewed attention, particularly in the West, where there are opportunities for enhancing tourism in communities once reliant on extractive resources. The historical focus of rural development has been on economic growth, with little concern about the sustainability or socioeconomic impacts of such growth. This study analyzes and discusses the employment dynamics of rural economies with varying employment bases to illustrate some possible impacts of targeting specific employment sectors as part of a rural economic development strategy. The empirical research focuses on the rural counties of Utah, where the trade and service sectors associated with increased tourism and retirement communities have been rapidly expanding throughout the past two decades. Copyright 1998, Oxford University Press.
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Papers by Dawn Thilmany