Add New England farmer’s markets to the list of things caught in America’s cultural divide.

A UNH survey released this week found that almost two-thirds of people who were surveyed agreed with the question “Do you think there is a certain type of person who buys local farm foods?” and almost half of those people agreed with the follow-up statement “I am not that type.”

“These differences in perceptions have led to farmers markets being primarily visited by a niche group of repeat shoppers. The practical impact of this to the region’s small and mid-sized farmers and food entrepreneurs, who rely on higher prices by selling directly to consumers, is a narrower customer base that limits their abilities to grow their businesses,” is how a UNH report summarizes the survey’s conclusions.

The research team is seeking to understand whether a broader customer base could be attracted by emphasizing attributes like taste, quality and healthy produce.

Adults who consider themselves the type of person who buys at farm stands, farmers markets and other sources of local food – which researchers called the alternative food network or AFN – bought locally produced food at a rate three times higher than those who said they were not the type, according to the survey.

“We’re still working to unpack these relationships but are seeing signs of connection between identity markers and food acquisition strategies that could be really helpful for understanding less visible barriers to accessing local foods,” said Jess Carson, a research assistant professor at UNH and director of the Center for Social Policy in Practice.

Carson was one of two authors of the survey released by the  New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station, along with Analena Bruce, an assistant professor in the UNH College of Life Sciences and Agriculture.

The survey asked more than 2,100 consumers in all six New England states – people “with varying levels of engagement” in the alternative food network – about their food shopping behaviors, values and perceptions.

It found that many of the factors emphasized by the local food movement, such as “grown on a small farm” and “grown by people I know personally,” were not very significant. They were all chosen by one-third or fewer of survey respondents as being “important” factors when buying food.

The most important factor for those in the survey when buying food is that their family would like it, followed by statements regarding taste, healthiness and cost. All those were judged “important” by at least three-quarters of survey responses.

The team will be conducting interviews with New England consumers who do and don’t regularly buy local food through what it calls the alternative food network or AFN, hoping to explore the relationships between cultural identity and food shopping practices.

“This study is important because most of the research that's been done about AFNs focuses on existing customers, and this tells us nothing about the perspectives of the general population who currently don’t attend farmers markets, participate in CSAs, or engage in other types of AFNs,” said Bruce.

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