| Abstract: | The purpose of this report was to relate several economic and social characteristics of consumers to level of fresh potato consumption. National cross-sectional data were used to identify consumption patterns using the least squares regression procedure. Relationships were estimated for white and nonwhite households The relationships for white households indicated that price of fresh potatoes, family income, number of meals eaten-at-home, family size, and expenditures for sweet potatoes were important determinants of weekly fresh potato consumption. Regional, urbanization and seasonal differences were also apparent for white households. Age and expenditures for processed white potatoes were less critical in determining consumption patterns The relationship for the nonwhite households was similar structurally to the white household relationship in many respects. Actually, age, expenditures for sweet potatoes and processed white potatoes and a couple of shift variables were the only ones which did not exhibit statistically significant coefficients. Seasonal and regional differences were noted. |
