AGCO Advantage Questionnaire Analysis

1. AGCO Advantage Questionnaire Analysis Descriptive Analysis of AGCO Advantage Reader Questionnaire Jameson Hayes University of Georgia Phone: 706-410-6386 E-mail: jlhayes4@uga.edu

2. Contents Management Highlights • Business and Professional Interests……………….......4 • Farm & Cropland Size……………………………....…6 • Hay & Livestock Involvement……………………....…7 • Technology Use…………………………………………8 • Family & Recreational Interests……………………....9 • Readership……………………………………………..11 Detailed Findings…………………………..…………14 Conclusions and Recommendations……...…25 AGCO Advantage Questionnaire Analysis

3. Management Highlights AGCO Advantage Questionnaire Analysis

4. Business and Professional Interest • The agricultural affiliation of readers lean greatly toward farm owner-operators- 85%. • Owner-operators often have supplemental employment- 22%. • Best farming practices is the subject of most interest content wise. AGCO Advantage Questionnaire Analysis

5. Agriculture Affiliation Supplemental Job AGCO Advantage Questionnaire Analysis Owner-Operators

6. Farm & Cropland Size • The median farm size for the sample was 500 acres. • The median amount of cropland reported was 400 acres. • About 80% of farmland is allocated for farming practices. AGCO Advantage Questionnaire Analysis

7. Hay & Livestock Involvement • About 60% reported involvement in the hay market. • 41% reported ownership of beef cattle • 37.5% work with hay and own beef cattle • About 16% own diary livestock • About 10% own hogs AGCO Advantage Questionnaire Analysis

8. Technology Use • About 35% report implementing a computer for business purposes. • 25% use Internet for business or agriculture purposes. • 21% have an e-mail account • Around 13% implement precision agriculture systems • 15% use communications systems AGCO Advantage Questionnaire Analysis

9. Family & Recreational Interests • Respondents exhibit interest in a variety of subject matters and activities: • Hunting: 35% • Personal Gardening: 29% • Fishing: 27% • Finance/Investments: 25% • Cooking/Recipes: 21% • Agricultural tourism, auto-related activities, and woodworking/carpentry also garnered a good amount of interest- 14-18%. AGCO Advantage Questionnaire Analysis

10. Family & Recreational Interests • Agriculture-related events such as tractor shows, tractor pulls, animal shows, livestock sales, rodeos and antique shows were reported qualitatively at an extremely high rate. • Tractors and toy tractors were reported overwhelmingly high as a collected item. • Camping was listed most commonly in the “Other Activity” slot. AGCO Advantage Questionnaire Analysis

11. Readership Responses 25-50 readers 50+ readers AGCO Advantage Questionnaire Analysis

12. Readership • Readership is heavily concentrated in the Upper Midwest and Northeast regions of the country. • Opportunity exists in other regions where agri-business is present especially the Southeast. AGCO Advantage Questionnaire Analysis

13. Readership • The mean number of readers reported to read subscribers’ issues is 2.16. • 75% of readers spend between 15 minutes to 1 hour reading each issue. • 44% spend 30 minutes to 1 hour reading each issue AGCO Advantage Questionnaire Analysis

14. Detailed Findings AGCO Advantage Questionnaire Analysis

15. Agriculture Affiliation About 85 percent of respondents reported their agricultural affiliation to be that of an owner-operator. Of those 22 percent report having another job to supplement their farm-related income. A large portion of the readership are those who make purchasing decisions for farm businesses. AGCO Advantage Questionnaire Analysis

16. Agriculture Affiliation Supplemental Job AGCO Advantage Questionnaire Analysis Owner-Operators

17. Subjects of Interest Subjects of interest leaned heavily towards the best farming practices category. About 62 percent of participants express interest in content addressing best practices. Farming trends was noted second most with 18 percent and organic farming practices was selected by 12 percent. AGCO Advantage Questionnaire Analysis

18. Subjects of Interest AGCO Advantage Questionnaire Analysis

19. Total Farm Size Median= 500 acres AGCO Advantage Questionnaire Analysis

20. Total Cropland Median= 400 acres AGCO Advantage Questionnaire Analysis

21. Hay & Livestock Involvement AGCO Advantage Questionnaire Analysis

22. Technology Use AGCO Advantage Questionnaire Analysis

23. Readership AGCO Advantage Questionnaire Analysis

24. Readership AGCO Advantage Questionnaire Analysis

25. Conclusions & Recommendations AGCO Advantage Questionnaire Analysis

26. Response indicates that the majority of AGCO Advantages readership are farm owner-operators. This fact adds validity to the questionnaire results as the information gather is derived largely from those who make purchasing decisions. The information can be considered when considering marketing strategy. • Noteworthy is the concept that many farmers hold other occupations to supplement their farming operation as it provides insight into the life of the farmer. This can be considered in crafting brand messages to the consumer. • Numbers show that 35% of the sample use a computer for business purposes and 25% use the Web for business or agricultural purposes. Capitalizing on these numbers by driving customers to the AGCO site can generate great brand knowledge and loyalty by educating existing customers on their products. Additionally, this could facilitate word-of-mouth advertising and grow brand awareness. AGCO Advantage Questionnaire Analysis

27. Customer service can be improved as well by creating an interactive environment that will allow for expedient access to information and representatives. • The customer-base has a wide variety of interests. These interests offer a array of opportunities for AGCO to connect with the customer and increase brand visibility. For example, tractor and animal shows are great opportunities to not only attach the AGCO name to events the market hold in high esteem, but also a stage to educate the market about products. • Readership numbers reveal a great opportunity growth in brand awareness. Readership is extremely high in the Northeast as well as the Upper Midwest but are extremely low in other agricultural areas such as the Southeast. By finding a way to raise distribution in these areas, brand awareness and product knowledge can be greatly lifted. Such can pave the way for future in-roads into those markets and make obtaining market share somewhat easier. AGCO Advantage Questionnaire Analysis