horticulturae Article Exploring Key Factors Determining US Consumer Preferences for Growing over Buying Fruit in Pre-Covidian and Covidian Times Meike Rombach 1, * , David L. Dean 2 and Tim Baird 2   Citation: Rombach, M.; Dean, D.L.; Baird, T. Exploring Key Factors Determining US Consumer Preferences for Growing over Buying Fruit in Pre-Covidian and Covidian Times. Horticulturae 2021, 7, 575. https://doi.org/10.3390/ horticulturae7120575 Academic Editors: Douglas D. Archbold and Christian Fischer Received: 18 November 2021 Accepted: 13 December 2021 Published: 14 December 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). 1 Department of Land Management and Systems, Lincoln University, Lincoln 7647, New Zealand 2 Department of Agribusiness and Markets, Lincoln University, Lincoln 7647, New Zealand; david.dean@lincoln.ac.nz (D.L.D.); tim.baird@lincoln.ac.nz (T.B.) * Correspondence: meike.rombach@lincoln.ac.nz Abstract: This study provides insights for managers in the food retail sector, the horticultural industry, actors involved in community gardening and farmers’ markets. It proposes a model that investigates key factors determining US consumer preferences for growing fruit over buying it in pre-Covidian and Covidian times. For this purpose, an online survey with a sample of 383 US residents was conducted. Partial least squares structural equation modelling shows that subjective knowledge about fruit and the perceived impact of COVID-19 are the most important drivers of preferences for growing over buying in Covidian times. The impact of COVID-19 had no relevance for the pre- Covidian times. For both scenarios, only age and gender as socio-demographic factors were found to influence subjective knowledge and the perceived impact of COVID-19. Other sociodemographic factors were not found to have any impact. Keywords: COVID-19; fruit; gardening; knowledge; US consumers 1. Introduction In 2019, an outbreak of a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (COVID-19) led to a global pandemic [1,2]. The quick transmission of the virus in the United States (US) in February 2020 resulted in societal and economic disruptions along with adjustments to everyday life [3]. These adjustments required remaining physically distant in public places, mask wearing, prolonged stay at home periods and drastic changes in consumer behaviour [4–6]. The threat of the virus caused American consumers to commit to panic and bulk buying [7–11]. In retail, shelves were cleared of toilet paper, disinfectant products, canned food, fresh produce and other horticultural products because demand for these items had outweighed supply [12]. Products that were at risk of being out of stocked were restricted for purchase in terms of quantities [3]. These seemingly unusual buying behaviours are in fact relatively common, as studies on consumer behaviour after extreme events (such as earthquakes or tornados) demon- strate [9]. Bulk and panic buying are motivated by a fear of unpreparedness, and stem from evolutionary human instinct [9,13–15]. Undoubtfully, the global pandemic increased the popularity of online purchases [4,16–18], driving consumption trends, such as ethical and sustainable consumption, healthy living, self-sufficiency and do-it-yourself (crafting, building, cooking and gardening projects) [19]. These trends are relevant to horticultural products and services and are expected to remain relevant in the coming years [19–21]. Self-sufficiency and do-it-yourself (DIY) as trends gained popularity among the mid- dle class and lower income classes due to the economic consequences that can be attributed to COVID-19 [19]. Approximately 25 percent of all American citizens are affected by unem- ployment, and thus must cope with changes to their economic situation and lifestyle [19]. Owning a garden or participating in forms of community supported agriculture, such as community gardens, have been seen as ways to counteract hardships or to keep up a Horticulturae 2021, 7, 575. https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae7120575 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/horticulturae