Date of Graduation
Spring 2026
Degree
Master of Science in Agriculture
Department
School of Agricultural Science & Conservation
Committee Chair
Benjamin Onyango
Abstract
Understanding consumers' perspectives and motivations is key when looking into making goat meat more accepted in the mainstream meat market. Previous research has shown there is a demand for goat meat from different populations in the US. Consumers also care more about the quality of the food they purchase. Understanding that goat meat has lower cholesterol and is leaner than other red meat is important to incorporating goat meat in niche consumer markets. Providing consumers with a product that is familiar to them is more acceptable than giving consumers a cut of meat they are unfamiliar with. Standard products like sausage, burgers, jerky, patties, and meat sticks are items that are sold at grocery stores and convenience stores. Consumers are growing more health-conscious when making decisions about what products to buy. Goat meat, when compared to other red meat offers nutritional benefits that other red meat is lacking. Introducing goat meat into the mainstream meat market as an everyday product could pose a challenge. To explore this, a consumer survey was created by faculty at Missouri State University and Fort Valley State University, Georgia, in February of 2024 and distributed across the nation, resulting in over 2,000 completed responses. This survey was conducted to understand goat meat consumption in the United States by evaluating consumers' willingness to purchase specialty goat meat products like burgers, sausage, patties, jerky, and sticks if made available in stores. Participants' willingness to purchase specialty goat meat products increased according to gender, education, household income, and age. The importance of quality, freshness, leanness, and lower cholesterol levels are other factors that motivate consumers to purchase goat meat products. Findings within this research will assist in evaluating willingness to pay for specialty goat meat products based on sociodemographic and other motivations of consumers.
Keywords
willingness to buy goat meat, goat meat specialty products, demographics, sociographics, meat attributes, and consumer preference of goat meat
Subject Categories
Agricultural Economics
Copyright
© Madison Raye Schmitz
Recommended Citation
Schmitz, Madison Raye, "United States Mainstream Meat Market Entry: An Analysis on Speciality Goat Meat Products" (2026). Graduate Theses/Dissertations. 4161.
https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/theses/4161
