Preferences for Sustainable Residential Lawns in Florida: The Case of Irrigation and Fertilization Requirements

Abstract

The American landscape is well defined by the presence of turfgrass. To maintain the lush, green carpet, irrigation, fertilizer, and other necessary inputs are required. When these inputs are excessively applied, which is not uncommon, they are harmful to the natural environment. To mitigate potential adverse impacts, local and state governments are interested in policies that incentivize homeowners to maintain their lawns sustainably. But are there homeowners who are environmentally conscious and are willing to minimize their use of fertilizers or water? In this study, we evaluate the Floridian homeowners’ preferences for high- and low-level inputs of irrigation water and fertilizer using latent class logit (LCL) regression models based on data collected from an online choice experiment survey. Results indicated that there are heterogeneous preferences for the level of irrigation water and fertilizer application by Floridian homeowners, including high-input users (33% of the sample), irrigation-conscious users (27%), fertilizer-conscious users (23%), and moderate-input users (17%). The policy and marketing implications for relevant stakeholders are discussed.