Citation: Maró, G.; Czine, P.; Maró, Z.M.; Török, Á. Eliciting University Students’ Attitudes towards Farmers’ Markets: The Hungarian Case. Sustainability 2022, 14, 16757. https://doi.org/10.3390/ su142416757 Academic Editor: Antonio Boggia Received: 20 November 2022 Accepted: 12 December 2022 Published: 14 December 2022 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2022 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/). sustainability Article Eliciting University Students’ Attitudes towards Farmers’ Markets: The Hungarian Case Gréta Maró 1 ,Péter Czine 2 , ZalánMárk Maró 1 and Áron Török 1, * 1 Department of Agricultural Economics, Institute of Sustainable Development, Corvinus University of Budapest, 1093 Budapest, Hungary 2 Department of Statistics and Methodology, University of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary * Correspondence: aron.torok@uni-corvinus.hu Abstract: Short food supply chains are increasingly investigated areas of international studies. One of its defining sales channels is the farmers’ market, the number of which has grown substantially in Hungary in recent years. Many studies analyze the consumers of farmers’ markets worldwide, but only a few examine the relationship of university students with farmers’ markets. Although university students are not typical customers of farmers’ markets, it is essential to investigate their habits since they are the consumers of the future. Based on a questionnaire survey among Hungarian university students (n = 262), the price, convenience, selection, and quality aspects of the products dominate. We also identified clusters based on food purchasing criteria: (1) price-sensitive consumers, (2) health-conscious consumers, and (3) brand-loyal consumers. The main obstacle for non-regular buyers is the distance from farmers’ markets, which can be solved by organizing farmers’ markets on university campuses. 95% of the sample is open to this, so it would be worthwhile to conduct independent research for each university and put the positive results into practice. Keywords: short food supply chains; farmers’ markets; university students; two-step cluster analysis; Hungary 1. Introduction As a result of the food scandals at the end of the 20th century and at the beginning of the 21st century, as well as the increase in information asymmetry between producers and consumers, the importance of short supply chains (SFSCs) is increasing nowadays [1–4]. In the modern agri-food sector, the spread of SFSCs is often considered one of the solutions for sustainability. The case of SFSCs and local foods is receiving more and more attention and concerns consumers, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), producer advocacy, and decision-makers at various levels [5]. SFSCs also try to provide solutions to social, economic, and environmental sustainability challenges. SFSCs can offer a solution to low farm incomes, strengthening the relationships between producers and consumers or reducing food waste [6,7]. However, the desired positive effect cannot be scientifically proven in many cases. It may even happen that the traditional food industry offers a much more sustainable method [8]. Educational institutions, especially universities, are placing more and more emphasis on sustainability issues. University students are the generations of the future; their consumption and purchasing habits will have a substantial impact on the future of the universe, so they must acquire a way of thinking that already includes concepts related to sustainability [9,10]. The most common form of the short supply chain in Hungary is farmers’ markets (FMs). Many studies examine the consumers of FMs, but only a few focus on university students and their preferences or shopping habits. At the same time, many studies examine university students in the United States, and more and more university campuses regularly organize FMs. Currently, to the best of our knowledge, no study in Hungary and only a few Sustainability 2022, 14, 16757. https://doi.org/10.3390/su142416757 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability