RealAgristudies: Trend shows an increasing desire to focus on personal goals

(Debra Murphy/RealAgriculture)

Earlier this year, we launched RealAgristudies with the goal of better understanding Canadian farmers. Our first survey, Farm Vision 2020, is designed to learn more about farmers’ attitudes and perceptions.

We’ve been very encouraged by the participation from farmers to date. While the survey is still open (we just need a couple more and then it will be closed) and it will take some time to process the information, we have enough to see some high-level trends.

RealAgristudies - Farm Vision 2020 Early Trend

One of the topics the 2010 Commercial Producer Study attempted to measure was the importance of farmers’ goals and the degree to which these goals were being achieved. In 2010, farmers reported to be very focused on achieving business goals such as:

  • Maximizing profitability
  • Maximizing efficiency
  • Reducing risk

Today, we are finding that many of these business goals are still important but there is a trend towards the greater importance of personal goals:

  • Succession planning
  • Having more free time
  • Being involved in the community

One must wonder what impact the achievement of business goals has had on the increasing importance of personal goals. As we dive deeper into the data, it will be interesting to see what relationships exist between variables such as Farm Size, Age of Farmer, Adoption of Technology, etc. as well as the implications to things such as decision-making and expectations of suppliers.

While we’re thrilled with the participation so far, there is still time to join the Farm Vision 2020 project if you’re a farmer and want to get the first the look at the total results.

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Categories: RealAgristudies / Survey