LCP Survey 2021

Large Commercial Producer Survey 2021

As Boilermakers, we strive in the persistent pursuit of our next giant leap. In doing so, 2021 will mark the seventh conducting of the Large Commercial Producer Survey. Designed to understand the preferences of large-scale producers when interacting with agricultural salespeople, retailers, lenders and manufacturers, the Center research team is currently in the process of developing and implementing the study. Results from the survey are set to be delivered in late 2021.

The 2021 survey will focuses on U.S. producers of: corn/soybean, wheat/barley, cotton, fruit/nuts/ vegetables, dairy, hogs and cattle. As farmers and ranchers adapt to the changing industry, suppliers must understand them as they grow in order to be successful. Knowing producers’ concerns, preferences, behaviors and attitudes is crucial to serving them well. Survey results will provide insight into these areas and serve as a helpful look at the direction of the agricultural supply chain. Reaching across several commodities and aspects of agriculture, the LCP Survey is a tool to help agribusiness managers understand today’s customers and position their business for future success.

2021 Survey Topics

Producer Strategies

This topic focuses on how producers choose to win in the marketplace. The results will help agribusinesses understand how to provide the right mix of strategies for an effective customer buying process. This topic aims to answer:

  • What general strategies farmers use for winning
  • How much time farmers spend on decision-making based on their strategies
  • What drives farmer strategies

Buying Preferences

This topic’s goal is to acquire a deeper understanding of farmers’ buying behavior and investigate the impact of factors such as price, quality of service and relationship/trust on farmer preferences, as well as if and how these factors convert to loyalty. Buying preferences and their implications are the main objective of this project. The survey searches for key insights across all topics to examine how they work together. This topic will allow agribusiness managers to:

  • Better understand where potential tradeoffs might be for their customers
  • Tailor sales approaches to farmer segments to improve their success rate
  • Identify where salespeople can be most effective
  • Consider opportunities for more cross selling within their product and service offerings

E-Commerce

With the increase of electronically-conducted agricultural transactions, this topic will focus on gaining an understanding of farmer preferences regarding online buying. It will answer:

  • What experiences farmers have when buying online
  • What farmers’ attitudes are toward these experiences
  • What motivates farmers to purchase or not purchase online
  • If buyers make a distinction between shopping online and buying online

Information and Salesperson Preferences

This topic will focus on gaining an increased understanding of farmer preferences regarding sources of information. It will answer:

  • What sources of information farmers most use
  • What sources of information farmers trust
  • How farmers prefer to receive their information

Data/Tech Adoption and Sustainability

This topic will uncover opportunities for value creation in the supply chain using farm data. Results will provide insight into farmers’ data collection and sharing practices, along with an understanding of the barriers and opportunities of transferring data to downstream partners. Several food and agribusinesses are developing tools for collecting farm-level data on sustainability practices, and this session will cover the opportunities and obstacles facing these tools.

This topic will collect specific information about farmer data collection/sharing and sustainability in regard to:

  • Farmers’ current data sharing practices
  • Sources of value from farm data
  • Incentives to increase farm data value and shareability
  • Farmer perception of costs and opportunities for improving sustainability data collection

2017 LCP Survey Materials

To purchase 2017 LCP Survey Materials, contact Research Project Manager Masi Keshavarz at mkeshava@purdue.edu, or call (765) 496-3385.