Industry overview
What is shaping agriculture
Agriculture supports a large share of rural livelihoods, and its buying decisions are made close to the soil: at the village dealer, the cooperative and the neighbouring lead farmer. Seasonality, weather and credit shape almost every choice a farmer makes.
- Purchase decisions cluster in short pre-sowing windows
- Trusted dealers and lead farmers carry more weight than advertising
- Digital payments, agri-fintech and crop insurance are changing how farmers buy
Client background
A New Zealand organic growers’ cooperative, working in Auckland, Wellington, Sydney & Melbourne. Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.
- Organisation
- A New Zealand organic growers’ cooperative
- Sector
- Agriculture
- Team engaged
- Market Research
- Services
- Consumer panel, Online surveys, Qualitative research
Client challenge
The cooperative’s farmers had converted to organic practices, but urban sales were slow and expensive to grow. It needed to know who bought organic produce, what they were willing to pay and which proofs of authenticity they trusted.
Research objectives
- Deliver on the brief: understanding who really buys organic produce in New Zealand and Australian cities.
- Understand the views, needs and behaviour of urban grocery shoppers.
- Measure how widespread each pattern is, and explain the reasons behind it.
- Give the client evidence it can act on within 5 weeks.
Target audience
The work focused on 1,600 urban grocery shoppers.
- urban grocery shoppers1,600
Audiences we typically reach in agriculture
Farmers and growersAgri-input dealersCooperatives and FPOsAgronomists and extension workersAgri-fintech users
Geographic coverage
Coverage: Auckland, Wellington, Sydney & Melbourne. Markets: New Zealand and Australia.
- New Zealand
- Australia
Research methodology
A mixed-method design: structured research measured how widespread each pattern was, and qualitative conversations explained why.
- 1Brief
- 2Online survey
- 3Shopper interviews
- 4Insight
We surveyed grocery shoppers through our consumer panel, with quotas for age, household type and city, then held in-depth interviews with regular organic buyers. Interviews explored trust in labels, certification marks and farm stories, and how buyers checked whether produce was genuinely organic.
Consumer panelOnline surveysQualitative research
Sampling strategy
- urban grocery shoppers
- 1,600
- Online respondents were drawn from verified panel members who matched the screening criteria, with quotas on key profile attributes.
- Qualitative participants were recruited purposively to cover the full range of experiences that mattered, rather than for statistical representation.
Data collection
- in-depth interviews
- 20
- The online survey was mobile-friendly and offered in respondents' languages.
- Interviews and discussions were led by experienced moderators using a guide agreed with the client.
Data quality & validation
- Digital fingerprinting and duplicate checks
- Attention, speed and straight-lining checks
- Review of open-ended answers
- Recordings and transcripts for every session
- Re-screening of qualitative recruits
- Logic and range checks on the final data
- Work carried out under our ISO 20252 quality procedures
Data analysis
- Cross-tabulation by key groups and locations
- Significance testing on the differences that mattered
- Thematic coding of interviews and discussions
- Journey and decision mapping
Key findings
- Regular buyers were often parents of young children and people managing health conditions, and they trusted traceability more than labels.
In categories where trust is low, proof of origin can matter as much as price.
Recommendations
- Build on the core insight: in categories where trust is low, proof of origin can matter as much as price.
- Focus effort where the evidence was strongest: regular buyers were often parents of young children and people managing health conditions, and they trusted traceability more than labels.
- Re-measure after the changes to confirm the effect.
Business impact
- The cooperative introduced farm-level QR codes and a subscription box for families, focused on Auckland and Sydney first.
What changed in the business as a result of the work. Impact is described qualitatively.
Deliverables & next steps
- Insight report and management presentation
- Cleaned data file and data tables
- Interview summaries and key verbatims
- Repeat the measure after changes are in place to track progress.
- A natural follow-on question: what do dealers recommend, and why?
Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.