Washington, Sep 4 - Organic foods may be healthier and may not tax the environment, but choosing them is not an easy option for consumers when the other option is locally grown foods, says a new study.

Chengyan Yue, horticulture professor at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (UMTC), and colleague Cindy Tong investigated consumers' preferences and willingness to pay for organically grown and locally grown fresh produce.

The research team combined hypothetical and real experiments for the study, which was conducted with 365 volunteer participants at the Minnesota State Fair in August 2008.

The researchers found that consumers' willingness to pay for organic produce was about the same as they would pay for local produce. But the frequency of purchases was different for organic and local produce.