Farming is a business and like all good business owners, farmers understand the importance of keeping their eye on industry trends. By doing so, farmers are able to predict what consumers are looking for in the short term and provide those products and services.

Today, farmers list the following trends that are hot right now:

Trend #1: Consumers are ready (and more than willing) to pay for the high quality foodstuffs.

Last year, the average retail price for things like beef, cheese, eggs, fruit and milk fell but many consumers were still willing to pay higher prices by skipping the grocery store and doing business directly with farmers. Even farmers who have contracts with supermarkets understand the lucrative nature of direct sales opportunities and take advantage of things like farmers’ markets and roadside stands.

Trend #2: An increase in farm-to table-opportunities.

Today’s families are busier than ever and need fast food options to accommodate their hectic lifestyles. And while fast food is unlikely to go away, consumers are seeking out healthier fast options. That means they are looking for fresh salads and sandwiches that they can grab on the go but that still contain healthy ingredients. When farmers partner with restaurants that provide this type of food they make a healthy profit.
Savvy farmers also are working with food delivery services that allow consumers to cook from-scratch meals while avoiding the hassle of shopping, chopping, washing and measuring fresh ingredients. These types of food delivery services allow families to cook and enjoy healthy, fresh meals without ever having to worry about menu planning.

Trend #3: A rise in the demand for organic options.

Consumers want food that does more than just meet their nutritional needs. They want to purchase food that is good for them and the environment and the community and the world at-large. When food is labeled as helping the environment and small producers, for example, consumers take note. Coffee made from sustainably produced beans and locally grown produce are examples of what consumers are looking for. And these consumers are willing to pay for those labels. Certified organic farms are the fastest growing segment of food industry. Currently, there are more than 21,000 certified organic farms in the United States and that number is expected to continue to rise.

Farmers know that catering to their customers is the key to staying viable at a time when falling food prices seem to be the norm. By doing so these farmers are able to thrive in tight economic times.

Ticks are nothing to be trifled with. Lyme disease, the newly identified Powassan virus, Rocky Mountain spotted fever and many other diseases are transmitted by this pesky arachnid.

Farmers, ranchers and others who work in the agricultural industry must be especially vigilant when it comes to protecting themselves against ticks. Many people believe that ticks fall out of trees and land on people’s heads. The truth is, ticks live in grasses and low shrubs. When a person walks through grass or shrubs a tick will jump out and land on an individual and make its way up the person’s body.

If you are working outside, bug or mosquito spray is not going to do the trick. Instead, you need to wear a repellent specifically designed for ticks. It also is important to remember that tick repellent is meant to be applied to clothing, not to the skin.

The appropriate clothing also is a powerful weapon in the fight against ticks. Be sure to wear long pants, sock and boots when working in grass or shrubs. For added protection, make sure to tuck your pants into your socks. Finally, remember that ticks cannot transmit disease unless they are attached to a person and feeding off that person so always do a body-check after coming in from the outside.

When it comes to breeding grounds for ticks, nothing compares to farms. Cattle, dogs, sheep and farmers themselves all provide the blood ticks live off of. Ticks have relatively few enemies in the animal kingdom so farmers must take matters into their own hands if they wish to reduce the population of ticks.

What follows are some steps to take to manage the tick population on your farm:

  • Keep all areas where tall grass grows mowed and dry. You also should consider applying tick granules to the grass.
  • Treat house pets with flea and tick repellent.
  • Keep guinea fowl or chickens in your yard or near the house since these are a tick’s natural predators.
  • Construct nesting boxes and raptor perches for hawks and owls. Hawks and raptors reduce the number of small rodents and mammals on the farm which reduce the tick population since ticks live off these animals.
  • Vaccinate all cattle over one month of age and dip or spray cattle with tick treatment.
  • Deer can be carriers of ticks so build bait stations for deer that require deer to rubs their heads against a pesticide dispenser or a citrus oil extract. This will kill the ticks on a deer.

If there is one thing farmers value above all else, it is the knowledge that the people they do business with are trustworthy and understand the challenges they face. If a farmer believes that he or she is not valued and appreciated by a business, chances are great that they will find another business that will.

Savvy Ag business owners understand the importance of connecting with their clients and do all they can to keep lines of communication open. Unfortunately, this can be difficult with so many demands on their time, including marketing their business so they can secure new customers.

So what’s a business to do? If you want to sustain and grow your client relationships but feel as if there is never enough time to do it all, we have some suggestions that may help to make things a little easier on you. In other words, some steps you can take to strengthen your client relationships while acknowledging the ever-increasing demands on your time.

  1. Know thy customers. While it may take a little more time at the beginning of a relationship, getting to know your customers well will allow you to interact with them in a more meaningful way down the road. It also will ensure that you aren’t wasting your time guessing what they need all of the time. You will already know.
  2. Spend more time connecting. While this may seem like the wrong way to save time, the opposite is true. When you check in on a regular basis—even if only for a few minutes—you will be aware of any issues that may come up. This prevents a minor issue from ballooning into a major one that takes a great deal of time to manage.
  3. Focus on trust. Good customer service always involves doing what you say you will do. This also builds trust. Customers that don’t trust you will inevitably call you more often to make sure you are on top of their order, for example. When they trust you, however, they won’t feel the need to micromanage and you won’t have to spend time reassuring them that everything is on track.

All customers, especially farmers, need to know that they are a priority. Making sure they do will allow you to do the best job possible without wasting time.

If you have never heard of the term “nurture campaign,” it might be something you want to add to your marketing vocabulary. This is especially true if you are an Ag business marketing to farmers.

The business of farming goes through periods of frenzied activity followed by relative calm. To keep in touch with Ag leads through these times, it is important to provide consistent and quality content that allows you to connect, educate and inspire-no matter what is going on with a farming operation.

It also is important that you precisely segment your farming leads so you know what type of content will be most useful and valuable to a particular farmer. Further, you need to know when it will be most valuable. It is this type of contact that will help you to build relationships that allow you to be seen as a trusted resource.

If you are still unsure whether or not you need to invest in a nurture campaign, or don’t know what such a campaign involves, here is a brief overview of what one entails: First, you make contact with a new lead. Next, you establish consistent contact moving forward being mindful not to overwhelm your lead. Finally, you use the data you have gained over time to pinpoint the more specific needs of a lead so that you can better tailor your message as time progresses.

To further illustrate the basics of a nurture campaign, here is a step-by-step guide:

Step #1: Decide on the customer segment you are going to target. Remember, for it to be effective a nurture campaign must speak specifically to one type of customer. This is no time for blanket statements or generalized messages.

Step #2: Offer something of value such as quality content or a free webinar. It is critical at this point that you don’t try to sell.

Step #3: Set up a schedule and stick to that schedule. It is important to space out your touches so they are consistent but not annoying.

Step #4: Evaluate the success of each touch to figure out what strategies work best and which calls-to-action yield the best results. This will allow your nurture campaigns to get better and better over time.

Farmers respond well to nurture campaigns because of the cyclic nature of their business. Make sure to capitalize on this fact by always putting the necessary effort into such campaigns.