Benefits of Agricultural Market Research

by Kimmie Watson Marketing Head

The Australian agricultural industry is facing vast amounts of volatility and change. The landscape for modern agriculture as a whole evolving and adapting.

For many organisations, market research plays a vital role in decision making, representing an objective process of enquiry in order to gain insight, enhance knowledge and answer important questions. For stakeholders within the agricultural sector, market research has become crucial for understanding the current state of the industry and tracking change.

Opportunities for Agriculture Market research

The changes occurring in the agricultural sector are multifaceted in nature, occurring across all sectors. In Australia, drought and extreme temperatures have drastically effect on farm practices, effecting planting times, restocking decisions, investment plans and more. Furthermore, big data and ‘smart farming’ solutions are poised to change the way food is produced and how farmers engage with their enterprises.

The ‘smart farming Industry’

The advent of smart farming and data driven technologies is revolutionising the way food is produced in modern day. With many new technologies and farm inputs being developed, testing such products and understanding farmer needs will be crucial. This further emphasis the pivotal role of agriculture market research in enhancing the R&D phase and informing strategic launch decisions.

New Technologies

IoT technologies and precision agriculture will affect the management decisions of farmers. Tech start-ups and innovators are desperate to change the way our food is produced in relation to smart farming industry. This requires market research not just in terms of product use but also in terms of product adoption. When attempting to proliferate technology adoption in the agricultural sector opportunities for market research and understating farmer needs in this space include:

farmer perception of technology- inform strategic planning and launch decisions for new technology
Experiences when using technology- product experience, identify strengths and areas for improvement
Understanding farmer needs- tailor R&D process and product development, ensure new technology developments are meeting a need.

Succession Planning

Rising production costs and drought are effecting the demographic composition of Australian farming industry, as well as average enterprise size and capabilities.

Having deep insight and understanding of the target segments, and industry composition, relevant to your project is vital. This requires market research and the utilisation of resources such as a farmer database.

Sector Specific trends

The beauty of agriculture market research is the granularity and sector specific insights that can be drawn. Different agricultural industries are facing different challenges. Understating the opportunities and threats facing the industry relevant to your research project or new product launch is crucial. Some areas for research across agriculture sectors include:

Dairy & Livestock

Destocking rate due to weather volatility
Biosecurity
Cattle prices and the effect of trade war outcomes on stocking rates

Land & water management

Cropping & Horticulture

Soil management
Irrigation and water resources use
Fertiliser and chemical input use.

When undertaking sector specific agriculture research, utilisation of a farmer database that has breadth and depth is key. Insightful projects can be undertaken when delving further into certification specific farm types such as organic or grass-fed. Again, the ability to contact a substantial amount relevant producers depends on the integrity of the farmer database maintained by a the market research company.

Methodology and sources of insight

When researching a specific industry such as agriculture, a focused research plan with a purposeful choice in methodology is key, alongside the utilisation of experienced and robust information sources.

Defining the target population for market research is critical. Multiple stakeholders exist along the agricultural supply chain that can provide valuable insight regarding industry trends. Who is targeted depends on research objectives.

An important population for agricultural research is the farmers themselves- those who are on the land and generally experience farm technologies and inputs first hand. From quantitative surveys to in depth interviews, getting in contact with participants from this population is best done using independent sources, experienced in researching the sector with a robust farmer database that has maintained, currency, relevance and coverage.