10 SOURCE | Fall 2021
Farmers Want Many Ways to Work with Their Local Suppliers
Amy Bradford , Corporate Communications Manager abradford @ growmark . com
GROWMARK Shareholders attending the Update Zone meetings held around the GROWMARK System in August received highlights from Purdue University ’ s Large Producer Survey . Dr . Brady Brewer , assistant professor , Agricultural Economics , and associate director at the Center for Food and Agricultural Business , at Purdue , provided the overview .
The latest survey shows a clear “ strong trend ” among farmers of technological growth , Brewer said . The trends of consolidation and larger farms is ongoing , as farmers enhance their use of technology and increase adoption of new technologies . “ Farmers are becoming more sophisticated in their use of technology and how they analyze the data that is gathered .”
When asked how they make decisions on the farm – the survey has included this question in 2017 , 2019 , and 2021 – farmers view themselves as more analytical , using the data available to them . “ Every year about one to two percent of the farmers switch from perceiving themselves as intuitive decision makers to analytical decision makers ,” Brewer said .
Is the trend toward greater sophistication and use of data available evident in cooperatives ? “ How have cooperatives changed over the years ?” Brewer asked . “ The perception could be cooperatives are old , stodgy organizations , your ‘ grandfather ’ s cooperative ’.”
Brewer acknowledged cooperatives have gotten larger in order to be more progressive , and the service offerings have changed , as well . “ There are a lot of different services cooperatives offer , such as data analysis which allows GROWMARK and its FS cooperatives to deliver on the value proposition in a different way ,” Brewer noted . Which is the main difference between cooperatives of today and our “ grandfather ’ s cooperative .”
The Large Commercial Producer Survey was conducted in Spring 2021 and targets farmers who have more than $ 1 million in gross revenue with a large part of the sample having over $ 5 million in gross revenue . This equates to over 3,500 acres in corn and soybeans . “ Large farmers were oversampled because that ’ s where we think we ’ re headed in the future ,” Brewer said . “ These operations are led by the farmers of the future .”
GROWMARK was a partner in the 2021 large producer survey , and as such , the survey was sent to a subset of GROWMARK farmers . This provides GROWMARK leadership benchmark data to compare the national average farmer and GROWMARK average farmer .
The Large Commercial Producer Survey queried farmers about their perspective on the historical ag retailer . Responses showed ag retail is relationship-based . Retailers and farmers share a lot in common whether it is church and community functions , or their kids play sports together . “ Trust was a key factor in the relationship between a farmer and their retailer ,” Brewer said . “ 80 percent of the farmers say the relationship with a salesperson is more important than the company they represent .” The data supports the trusted advisor role of FS cooperative employees with their customers .
Farmers were asked about the defining attribute for selecting a retailer . Fortyone ( 41 ) percent identified price , while 59 percent noted other attributes including service quality , relationship , historical experience , service availability , location , multiple brands available , and returns and guarantees . “ There is a lot that goes into a farmer-retailer relationship . Ag cooperatives have had to be a lot of things to a lot of people ,” Brewer said . “ Farmers demand a lot , but beyond price , there are a lot of things farmers value .”
Farmers and online purchasing Digital interactions are likely to grow as farmers get more sophisticated with comparison shopping , and using the data they have . That ’ s not to say digital will be the only way farmers will buy inputs .