Newswise — PHILADELPHIA (Nov. 1, 2011) – John Stanton, Ph.D., professor of food marketing, and Neal Hooker, Ph.D., CJ McNutt Chair of food marketing, received a $322,202 grant to enhance the mushroom industry’s viability by marketing mushrooms as a source of vitamin D. The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded 29 grants, totaling $46 million, to universities across the country in order to research and address issues currently facing the specialty crops industry.
Saint Joseph’s University’s Haub School of Business is the only business school to receive an award from the USDA’s Specialty Crops Research Initiative.
“The USDA spends a lot of money supporting and sponsoring traditional agriculture: corn, wheat, soybeans, livestock and eggs,” says Hooker. “This grant mandates that we spend more money to support fresh fruits and vegetables. The government is trying to encourage us to eat healthier and that fits really nicely with food marketing.”
The qualitative research associated with the two-year grant is already under way. “We intend to understand how and why people buy mushrooms and attempt to create marketing methods that encourage the purchase of mushrooms and specifically vitamin D mushrooms,” says Stanton.
The research and its findings will have implications for the industry as a whole. “We are focusing on mushrooms and vitamin D, but part of the last step will be to generalize it into other similar stories, such as selenium and carrots and lycopene with tomatoes,” adds Hooker. “We are trying to explore these questions: ‘Which message do you lead with?’, ‘Which message do you follow with?’ and ‘How do you reinforce your message?’”
Saint Joseph’s University’s Haub School of Business finds itself in a unique position as the lone business school among award recipients. “Up to now, virtually all of the money for these types of grants has gone to agriculture programs,” says Stanton. “This recognition that marketing is as important as growing the products is a milestone.”
Background: Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1851, Saint Joseph's University advances the professional and personal ambitions of men and women by providing a demanding, yet supportive, educational experience. One of only 141 schools with a Phi Beta Kappa chapter and AACSB business school accreditation, Saint Joseph's is home to 4,600 traditional day students, 700 College of Professional and Liberal Studies adult undergraduates and 3,500 graduate and doctoral students. Steeped in the 450-year Jesuit tradition of scholarship and service, Saint Joseph's was named to the 2010 President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for General Community Service. The University strives to be recognized as the preeminent Catholic comprehensive university in the Northeast.
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