Convenience Not Important to Farm Supply Buyers

WEST LAFAYETTE - Jan 19/06 - SNS -- Farmers place greater importance of price , performance and customer service than convenience when buying seed, fertilizer and pesticides, according to results of a Purdue University's Center for Food and Agricultural Business.

The latest survey of about 2,100 farmers from across the United States with annual sales of at least $100,000 identified five distinct ag input market segments, or buyer types; up from three in a similar 1998 survey. The data was analyzed by Purdue agricultural economists Corinne Alexander and Christine Wilson.

"Agribusiness professionals are concerned that there's been a decline in the number of farmers who make purchases based on their longstanding relationships with businesses," Alexander said. "Our study shows they are correct and provides insight into how today's farmer makes those decisions."

The five buyer groups the study identified include price, performance, convenience, service and balance, Wilson said. Traditional ag input market segments include business, or value- oriented, buyers; economic buyers, who focus on low cost; and relationship buyers, defined as those farmers who purchase from the same dealer year after year.

"Among the five buyer groups that we found, the price group places the most importance on cost," Wilson said. "The performance group is most interested in product performance. The convenience buyers prefer to purchase locally. Service buyers are very relationship-oriented. And those farmers in the balance group tend to place equal emphasis on the other four factors."

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