Canadian Farmers Answering Surveys…Why Do They Do It?

Busy, busy, busy. That seems to be the mantra today among nearly anyone you speak to and farmers are no different. Yet, amidst their daily chores, farmers will take the time to answer a survey. Why?

In the winter of 2020, Stratus completed a series of Seed Focus360 studies with Canadian farmers.  As they completed the surveys, the farmers were asked about their survey experience (poor to excellent), the reasons they completed the survey and asked to give any other comments they might have.  

So why did they complete the surveys?  Compensation was certainly one of the factors as Stratus provides an incentive for completing a survey, but the majority of respondents cited other, non-monetary factors as their main reason for participating.  Of 1,085 respondents, 33.7% cited an interesting survey topic as their primary reason (graph below). 

Others had higher motives for participating: 23.4% felt it was important to share their opinions on the survey topic while 4.6% wanted to learn more about the topic.  Two comments that further shed light on these groups are:

It’s good to give feedback to the companies that I depend on for products and services. – Peter L., corn farmer, Ontario, Canada

Doing this survey helped me evaluate my decision-making process with regard to corn varieties.  Hopefully, it will help me make better decisions on next years’ inputs. – John P., corn farmer, Ontario, Canada 

Another 8.2% of respondents said they simply enjoy doing surveys. 

Finally, attractive compensation was the chief reason among 30% of the respondents. 

Stratus is in the business of talking to farmers and learning from them.  See how our team can find answers to those difficult questions you have about your products and customers.