Biologicals

ROW & SPECIALTY CROPS

“Farmers are the center of our world and it’s time for the market to listen to them more – to understand the good, the bad and the ugly at field-level.” – CAM CAMFIELD, CEO of Stratovation Group

Most available research reports focus on macroeconomic trends, devoid of farmer perceptions and context from the farm gate. While these reports help in broad trend analysis, they lack the details needed to identify the opportunities, challenges, and other key factors growers consider when building their crop nutrition, protection plans, soil health, and conservation efforts. To solve this market gap, Stratovation Group has developed the “Perceptions of Biologicals” program, an annual report that we kicked off in 2022 for row crop farmers. This year, we are adding a report focused specifically on specialty crop growers. Both are farmer/grower centric studies, conducted with and in support of industry participants, to help aid in the growth and development of the biologicals market category as a whole. The results of these studies will help biological companies and their marketers better understand the demographics, psychographics, geographics, and perceptions of farmers and specialty crop growers using and considering biologicals.

2024 ROW CROP BIOLOGICALS STUDY

Three giants in the agricultural biologicals sector have signed on to sponsor a comprehensive, farmer-centric market research effort around row-crop farmers’ increased use of agricultural biologicals. The study, “Biologicals: Row-Crop Farmer Value, Perception and Potential,” is being launched by Stratovation Group, a diversified Midwest-based research, marketing, and communications firm with roots firmly planted in the agricultural sector.

The 2024 initiative is a follow-up to baseline research conducted in 2022 focused on farmer sentiment regarding the rapidly growing agricultural biologicals market. That research found that most farmers were aware of agricultural biologicals and early-adopting farmers rated their use and benefits as highly positive.

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2023 SPECIALTY CROP BIOLOGICALS STUDY

The 2023 study, ″Biologicals: Specialty Crop Growers’ Perceptions, Values and Potential,” was conducted in collaboration with Western Growers (WG), the Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA), DC Legislative and Regulatory Services (DCLRS), and The Fertilizer Institute (TFI).

“Partnering with these exceptional organizations for this specialty crop effort is really a testament to the findings farmers shared with us during our row-crop biologicals study,” said Cam Camfield, Founder and CEO at Stratovation Group. “We are excited because more thoughtful input from a variety of players at the front end will help us get better data throughout the study. And better data will drive better planning and results for every organization involved, and ultimately for the growers.″

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2022 ROW CROP BIOLOGICALS STUDY

Stratovation Group, Agricultural Retailers Association, The Fertilizer Institute and DCLRS Complete 2022 “Farmer-centric” Research on Biologicals.

“While the nitty-gritty data from this research is reserved for sponsors, we thought it would be a great service to agriculture to share a few of the most telling topline results, which overall, we would rate as solidly positive,” said Cam Camfield, CEO at Stratovation.

Those topline results include the finding that 83 percent of farmers in the U.S. are aware of the term agricultural “biologicals,” while fewer, 75 percent, were familiar with a similar term, agricultural “microbials.”

“We repeatedly heard that farmers using agricultural biologicals viewed them as sustainable inputs to boost profitability and increase yields,” Camfield said. “We will track all these benchmarks going forward, but if you look at all the market indicators beyond our study, this class of crop inputs is on a steep trajectory upward. But we also learned there is a ton of additional education needed to help this market reach its potential, and biological companies should consider sharing performance results with influential farmers and their advisors.”

OPPORTUNITY TO ACCESS THE ROW CROP STUDY

Those who purchase the row crop biologicals study will receive the research presentation (PDF or PPT) of the statistically valid, 500 completion survey. This study also includes: