Registered Voters Preferences for the Multifunctionality of Agriculture in the U.S.

This article addresses two broad objectives: (i) reviewing the concept of the multifunctional agriculture in the context of the U.S. and key issues associated with operationalizing and valuing the concept, and (ii) analyzing public preferences about the multifunctionality using a national survey of registered voters. Data analysis shows that registered voters consider the multifunctionality of agriculture as an important issue relative to other public issues and 53 percent of respondents were in favor of increasing government expenditures to support farmland preservation. Regression analyses show that the public s willingness to pay for the multifunctionality is heterogeneous across individual characteristics (e.g., political orientation, ethnicity, and demographics) and geographic regions. Further, the two decisions (whether or not to pay and the intensity of willingness to pay) are shaped by different sets of factors.