MARKETING TO FARMERS
24/25 REPORT
INSIGHTS DRIVE RESULTS
Agriculture is changing. Knowing how to attract, engage and secure farming customers has never been more important.
That’s why at Hillsgreen, we developed our ‘Marketing to Farmers’ annual research – now in its fourth year – to help you better understand what drives buying behaviour on farm and see how to reach farmers effectively with your marketing communications.
As the UK’s leading marketing agency for agriculture, we’re committed to challenging, inspiring and championing agricultural businesses. We are proud to partner with Reverberate PR and agtech research, to bring you this unique insight into farmers’ buying behaviour and their response to marketing activity, whether on or offline.
I’m pleased to share a summary of our latest research, which covers more respondents than ever - 1,110 farmers. This gives us the most robust data set yet. hope you find it useful.
To thank participants, we donate £5 to farming charities for every completed survey. This year we have donated £4,715 to support the industry we are proud to be part of.
Want to find out more? Get in touch with one of our team and we’ll show you how to apply these insights to your business.
AT A GLANCE
MALES
45+ key purchase decisionmakers on the farm
FEMALES
less likely to be making sole purchasing decisions, but have a key input as joint decisionmakers or influencers
MOST FREQUENT DIGITAL ACTIVITIES
EMAILING USING SEARCH ENGINES BROWSING SOCIAL MEDIA
The most popular social media platforms are
FACEBOOK, WHATSAPP & INSTAGRAM
Snapchat and TikTok used frequently by under 25s.
45 AND UNDER Browsing on social media most prevalent for those aged
25 % OF FARMERS USE FARMING APPS DAILY 60% OF FARMERS ARE COMFORTABLE SPENDING UP TO £5,000 IN A SINGLE ONLINE TRANSACTION
CONTENT IS KING
but ensuring the right content reaches the right audience is essential.
Digital and offline are both important, but which is right depends on focus, age group and stage of the buying process you’re targeting. Marketing plans must include a diverse range of channels and approaches, so you reach everyone that can influence a buying decision.
BRANDS MATTER
Make sure you represent your brand consistently, through visual identity and tone of voice, clearly articulating your value proposition through your messaging.
LOCATION
UNDERSTANDING YOUR AUDIENCE?
Farming is diverse. No two farms are the same – each faces different challenges, different opportunities and different priorities.
Our data shows that if you want to influence farmers’ buying decisions, you need to make sure your audience targeting is equally diverse. Most farmers continue to share key decision-making with other members of their farm team or household.
The majority of farm decision-makers are over 45. But young people still influence buying decisions even if they aren’t ultimately responsible.
Only 4.4% of respondents under 45 claimed that they have no input to buying decisions at all. It’s also a mistake to assume agriculture is still male dominated.
31% of female respondents either make the decisions or make most decisions on farm, 47% of females are joint decision-makers.
Only 2.7% of female respondents said they had no influence in buying decisions at all.
WHO MAKES THE BUYING DECISIONS?
Most decisions are made jointly, so your messages need to reach everyone involved, or you won’t effectively influence buying behaviour.
CREATING PERSONAS
Creating personas helps get inside the mind of your target audience to understand how they think and what they want from your product or service.
We use the data from this annual survey to do just that. For example: A farm staff or family member who directly influences the decision-makers
THE INFLUENCER
Jeremy Clarkson, Kaleb Cooper and Tom Pemberton.
Other farmers, shows/events and social media.
Video (although they also visit websites and look at reviews) WhatsApp, Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook.
If you’d like us to interpret our data to create accurate audience personas for your business, then get in touch.
HOW ARE FARMERS FEELING?
The last few years have seen turmoil in farming. But what issues are impacting farming the most?
The most common challenges in 2024 are very similar to those farmers faced in 2023. One notable change sees profitability as the number one challenge, while farm input costs drop to 3rd. Though still a challenge, these costs aren’t as high as they were at the start of 2023.
THEY SEE A BRIGHT FUTURE LACK OF PROFITABILITY AGE 84 % OF FARMERS INTEND TO EITHER GROW OR STAY THE SAME
These responses show the future of UK farming looks positive. Of those who intend to grow their farming enterprise, the main reasons given were:
42% 21% 19% OF FARMERS PLAN TO GIVE UP PRACTICAL FARMING
Looking at the age profiles of respondents, it’s clear that the next generation of farmers are more positive about the future. They’re thinking commercially and looking for opportunities.
Make sure your marketing targets this demographic effectively. If you need help understanding their attitudes and intentions, get in touch.
A CHANGING DIGITAL LANDSCAPE?
As in previous years, we asked farmers which sources of information helped inform their buying decisions and when they were most likely to access them.
Whilst daily online buying and selling appears to have fallen year-on-year, 78% of farmers are buying or selling this way at least several times a month.
WHY AREN’T YOU PODCASTING?
11% OF FARMERS LISTEN TO PODCASTS EVERY
Is this a marketing channel you’re overlooking?
Get in touch to find out the top podcasts you could be advertising on.
WHICH SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS ARE TRENDING?
We asked farmers to tell us which social media channels they used. The most popular remains WhatsApp, with 75% using it at least daily. Meanwhile, X (previously known as Twitter) sees use down by 40% in two years.
Facebook and Instagram continue to grow. YouTube use appears to have tailed off, although it does remain highly popular.
MOST POPULAR
LEAST POPULAR
But which channels are never used by farmers? You can probably ignore LinkedIn for specific farmer engagement, with more than three quarters claiming they never use it - a significant change since 2022.
But it does remain a popular channel for agri-professionals, who influence farmer buying decisions, so suitably targeted content is still worth considering.
18-24YR OLDS USING TIKTOK & SNAPCHAT DAILY
TAILOR YOUR MARKETING BY AGE & CHANNEL
Social media channel use varies as new channels emerge to replace more established ones, so review this as part of your digital marketing planning. Which channels are most suited to your audience and how and when are they using them?
Get in touch for a more in-depth breakdown of channel use by age.
AGE GROUP VARIATION
It might sound obvious, but social media channel use is one area where age group significantly impacts the choices made.
CONTENT CONSUMPTION
Content remains king. But how that content is distributed by brands and consumed by farmers is changing.
To thrive, your content marketing activity needs a clear content strategy that considers habits & trends, preferred content types, and the ability to re-purpose wherever you can.
INFLUENCING BUYING DECISION?
Digital channels are a key part of the farming sector’s research and purchasing journey. With PR, offline remains important. But what about when it comes to buying decisions?
Want to make influencer marketing a key part of your strategy? We already work with several influencers on these lists, and can help support your plans.
Speak to us to find out more.
Are agricultural influencers – with their large following on YouTube and social media – an untapped channel for your marketing?
Farmers remain willing to invest and are happy to spend online for the right products and services.
While fewer farmers are prepared to spend more than £10,000 in a single online transaction this year, this may reflect current agricultural profitability and economic dynamics rather than a specific change in choice of buying channel.
SEEDING SUCCESS
Email marketing allows brands to deepen connections with farmers. When done right, it’s invaluable. With proper strategy and segmentation, email enables beneficial and personalised conversations. Those farmers most receptive to email marketing are males aged under 45.
OUR FIVE KEY PRINCIPLES
AND
BUILDING A
We asked farmers whether there were particular brands that stood out to them and why. The range of businesses mentioned was broad, but of those chosen, there was one consistent theme – a strong brand identity. Brands stood out because of: HOW EMAIL MARKETING HELPS GROW FARMER RELATIONSHIPS
STRONG
BRAND MATTERS
If you want to stand out from the crowd and be recognised, you need to understand and clearly articulate your value proposition and ensure that every brand communication is consistent and unquestionably from your brand. It’s key to achieving cut through.
Get in touch to find out how we can help you.
