2022 Ag Media Survey from Readex Research and the Ag Media Council

What mediums influence farmers?

2022 Ag Media Survey - Readex Research and Ag Media Council

This is a presentation from a webinar put on by the Ag Media Council and survey data from Readex Research around the consumption of information by farmers.

What was notable to me was the stagnation from 2018 to today - consumption by medium DID NOT change much at all, and if anything the consumption of information on digitally enabled mediums, like e-newsletters and websites all declined and social media was essentially flat. The most notable dynamic surrounding this is that the survey actually was likely to have bias towards digital consumption as the survey was taken all online and participating groups were sent e-mail invitations initially. Podcasts and webinars did jump most consistently. The bias is also notable in that it doesn’t include “other farmers” as an option or other in-app marketing capabilities that are available.

What was compelling, though not surprising, is that the larger the farm operation the more likely a farmer is to consume information from various sources:

In 22 Mental Hacks for Agribusiness Leaders I talk a lot about always learning and “capturing new information”. It’s apparent that the more sizable operators are attempting to improve themselves across every area they have access too. There is always a correlation vs. causation dynamic in these sorts of survey’s, but I would suggest that having a bigger operation means you need to consume more information to stay on top of everything and I would also suggest that because these individuals are continuously looking for information across numerous mediums enables them to derive better business outcomes, leading to larger revenues and further growth.

Another non-surprise is how age influences consumption habits:

The serendipity of physical newspaper advertising still dominates how farmers find out about new products. While this wasn’t a surprise to me to be in the lead, I was surprised by the overwhelming emphasis of it:

The purchase journey for farmers is interesting to note:

And when added up across physical paper mediums, digital mediums and face-to-face mediums, we can actually see the influence digital still has:

Given the influence of retailer partners for example, it would be an interesting survey to understand at a granular level where they are getting their information from. I suspect it is heavily influenced by the manufacturer.

Overall, for anyone interested in marketing to farmers, reaching farmers or influencing farmers it’s worth gleaning some take aways from this survey.