2007 Rural Readership Survey Prepared for Rural Publications Group September 2007

© COLMAR BRUNTON 2 Contents Objectives/Approach Potentials/Sample Sizes General Publications Dairy Publications The Orchardist (not covered today) Farmer Profiles

© COLMAR BRUNTON 3 Objectives Provide an independent and comprehensive measure of current farming publication readership: –Reading incidence –Depth – proportion of issues/time spent/times read –Attitudes and value delivered –Article type usage/importance –Also: Computer/ /internet/website usage Future purchase behaviour

© COLMAR BRUNTON 4 Approach Self completion questionnaire with covering letter delivered to a random sample of approximately 11,000 farmers across New Zealand by Letterbox Channel Incentive (international travel prize to the value of $9,000) to encourage return 2785 questionnaires returned (25%) in reply paid envelopes Order of publications rotated Processing, analysis and reporting by Colmar Brunton Data weighted by farm type/region to match Statistics NZ Data (2002) Analysing trends :Increase Decrease

© COLMAR BRUNTON 5 Potential vs Actual Sample Sizes PotentialActual Sample Size Farm Type Dairy14, Sheep, Beef28,000867,506 Fruit6, Other horticulture4,83564 Other10, Region North26, Central16, South21, Note: Total NZ Farms = 63,800 (excludes plantations, idle land)

General Publications

© COLMAR BRUNTON 7 Readership – Total Sample

© COLMAR BRUNTON 8 Readership – Region % ReadTotalNorthernCentralSouthern Rural News94%93% 96% Straight Furrow95%93%96%97% Country-Wide93%94%96%95% Farmers Weekly96%95%96%97%

© COLMAR BRUNTON 9 Readership – Farm Type % ReadTotalDairySheepBeef Sheep/ BeefOther Rural News94%91%97% 98%91% Straight Furrow95%92%99%98%99%93% Country-Wide93%91%98%95%99%90% Farmers Weekly96%95%99%98%99%92%

© COLMAR BRUNTON 10 Readership – Income % ReadTotal Up to $200,000 $200,001- $500,000 Over $500,000 Rural News94%93%95%94% Straight Furrow95%96% 93% Country-Wide93% 95%93% Farmers Weekly96% 97%

© COLMAR BRUNTON 11 Readership – Age % ReadTotal Under 40 yrs40-49 yrs50-59 yrs60+ yrs Rural News94% 93%96% Straight Furrow95%94% 95%96% Country-Wide93%94% 93% Farmers Weekly96% 97%95%97%

© COLMAR BRUNTON 12 Rural Readership - Farm Type Within Region NorthernCentralSouthern Rural Publication Readership % Total % Dairy % Sheep /Beef % Other % Dairy % Sheep/ Beef % Other % Dairy % Sheep/ Beef % Other Rural News94%92%97%90%85%97%91%96%98%93% Straight Furrow95%92%98%91% 99%95%94%98%95% Country-Wide93%90%94%87%89%99%95%93%97%92% Farmers Weekly96% 97%91%92%100%91%97%99%94%

© COLMAR BRUNTON 13 Proportion of Issues Read (Total) Base: Readers of each publication

© COLMAR BRUNTON 14 Times Read (Total) Base: Readers of each publication

© COLMAR BRUNTON 15 Time Spent Reading Base: Readers of each publication Means 25 min 27min 34 min 23 min 26 min 24 min 35 min 34 min 32 min 20 min 24 min 26 min 27 min 17 min

© COLMAR BRUNTON 16 TotalNorthCentralSouthern Rural News19%18% 20% Farmers Weekly20%17%21% Country-Wide31%25%36% Straight Furrow19%18%19% Base: Readers of each publication Time Spent Reading (31+ minutes) by Region

© COLMAR BRUNTON 17 Rural News Farmers Weekly Country-Wide Straight Furrow Spouse57%61% 56% Children13%14% 13% Other Farmer/Grower11%12%11% Farm Employee10% 11%10% Other7% Base: Readers of each publication Other Readers

© COLMAR BRUNTON 18 General Publication Ratings Base: Readers of each publication In-depth and comprehensive coverage of the topics of interest to you

© COLMAR BRUNTON 19 General Publication Ratings Base: Readers of each publication Useful for day to day farm operations

© COLMAR BRUNTON 20 General Publication Ratings Base: Readers of each publication Editorial quality

© COLMAR BRUNTON 21 General Publication Ratings Base: Readers of each publication Overall value to you

© COLMAR BRUNTON 22 Rural News Farmers Weekly Country- Wide Straight Furrow Rating of Importance R&D37%36%42%38%4.0 News/Issues/Agribusiness54%64%49%56%3.9 Livestock/Animal Health36% 45%34%3.9 Market Information & Analysis 35%52%33%37%3.9 Farm management31%34%45%30%3.9 Pasture Management14%15%25%17%3.6 Equipment & Machinery35%26% 42%3.0 Humour & Satire21%28%13%n/a3.0 Real Estate13%18%17% 2.3 Base: Total sample Publications Use Most For

Dairy Publications

© COLMAR BRUNTON 24 Readership – Dairy Farmers

© COLMAR BRUNTON 25 Readership – Region % ReadTotalNorthernCentralSouthern Dairyman83%86%85%73% Dairying Today84%88%84%73% NZ Dairy Exporter86%89%90%76% Primary Source of Income - Dairy

© COLMAR BRUNTON 26 Readership – Income % ReadTotal Up to $200,000 $200,001- $500,000 Over $500,000 Dairyman83%65%84%89% Dairying Today84%65%83%92% NZ Dairy Exporter86%62%89%95%

© COLMAR BRUNTON 27 Readership – By Age % ReadTotal Under 40 years years years 60+ years Dairyman83%88%82%84%76% Dairying Today84%91%83% 78% NZ Dairy Exporter86%93%87%88%78%

© COLMAR BRUNTON 28 Proportion of Issues Read Base: Readers of each publication – Dairy farmers

© COLMAR BRUNTON 29 Times Read Base: Readers of each publication – Dairy farmers

© COLMAR BRUNTON 30 Time Spent Reading Base: Readers of each publication – Dairy farmers Means 26 min 29 min 32 min 28 min 26 min 29 min 35 min 28 min 46 min 49 min 53 min 58 min

© COLMAR BRUNTON 31 The Dairyman Dairying Today NZ Dairy Exporter Spouse55%58%64% Farm employee13%14%19% Children10%12%15% Other farmer9%10%14% Other5% 6% Base: Readers of each publication – Dairy farmers Other Readers

© COLMAR BRUNTON 32 Dairy Publication Ratings Base: Readers of each publication – Dairy farmers In-depth and comprehensive coverage of the topics of interest to you

© COLMAR BRUNTON 33 Dairy Publication Ratings Base: Readers of each publication – Dairy farmers Useful for day to day farm operations

© COLMAR BRUNTON 34 Dairy Publication Ratings Base: Readers of each publication – Dairy farmers Editorial quality

© COLMAR BRUNTON 35 Dairy Publication Ratings Base: Readers of each publication – Dairy farmers Overall value to you

© COLMAR BRUNTON 36 NZ Dairy Exporter – Other ratings Excel- lentGoodAveragePoor Not spec. Ease of reading40%43%12%1%4% Reading enjoyment33%45%16%1%5%

© COLMAR BRUNTON 37 Dairyman Dairying Today NZ Dairy Exporter Rating of Importance Farm management44%42%66%4.2 Livestock/ Animal health38% 57%4.1 News/Issues/Agribusiness44%45%53%4.0 Research & development38%36%58%4.0 Pasture management18%20%30%3.9 Market information & analysis 29%28%44%3.7 Equipment & Machinery19%21%22%3.1 Humour & Satiren/a8%n/a3.0 Real Estate5%6% 2.4 Base: Total Dairy farmers Publications Use Most For

The Orchardist

© COLMAR BRUNTON 39 Readership of The Orchardist – Fruit Growers

© COLMAR BRUNTON 40 Proportion of Issues Read Base: Fruit Grower Readers

© COLMAR BRUNTON 41 Times Read Base: Fruit Grower Readers

© COLMAR BRUNTON 42 Time Spent Reading Base: Fruit Grower Readers Means 38 min 42 min

© COLMAR BRUNTON 43 The Orchardist Spouse62 Farm Employee16 Other Farmer/Grower9 Children6 Other2 Base: Readers Other Readers (up from 52%)

© COLMAR BRUNTON 44 The Orchardist Ratings Base: Fruit Grower Readers

© COLMAR BRUNTON 45 Publication Used Most for Article Type – The Orchardist Mean Importance (out of 5) Do you use The Orchardist as your main source of information on …

Farmer / Orchardist Profiles

© COLMAR BRUNTON 47 Farm Type – Total Sample

© COLMAR BRUNTON 48 Gender – Total Sample

© COLMAR BRUNTON 49 Age Group – Total Sample

© COLMAR BRUNTON 50 Region – Total Sample

© COLMAR BRUNTON 51 Location – Total Sample

© COLMAR BRUNTON 52 Size of Property – Total Sample

© COLMAR BRUNTON 53 Gross Farm/Orchard Turnover – Total Sample

© COLMAR BRUNTON 54 Secondary Sources of Income – Total Sample

© COLMAR BRUNTON 55 Primary by Secondary Sources of Income Primary Source Secondary Source TOTALDairy Sheep/ beef FruitOther 100%30%47%9%14% Dairy3%-4%1%3% Sheep14%7%17%8%19% Beef38%35%47%12%30% Cropping6%3%8%3%5% Fruit2% 1% 4% Other horticulture2% 9%1% Deer4%1%7%-2% Goat1%- 2% Off farm17%12%19%23%17% Other12%9%12%15%16%

© COLMAR BRUNTON 56 Items Intend to Buy in Next 12 Months

© COLMAR BRUNTON 57 Use Computer Day to Day Management of Farm/Orchard

© COLMAR BRUNTON 58 Use of /Internet for Farming/ Business Related Activities No differences by region More daily for larger farms 500ha+

© COLMAR BRUNTON 59 Nett Visited Websites Visited and How Often Note: fruitgrowers based on primary fruit, dairymag based on primary dairy Others based on all farm types

© COLMAR BRUNTON 60 Nett Visited Websites Visited and How Often for those who use internet or daily/often Note: Based on those who use /internal daily or often Also, fruitgrowers based on primary fruit, dairymag based on primary dairy

Summary

© COLMAR BRUNTON 62 General Publications Increase in readership for Farmers Weekly, otherwise a steady picture for readership No differences by region, income, age Slightly lower readership for dairy/other farm types (vs sheep/beef) Slight drop in reading depth vs 2004 –Proportion of issues, times read, reading times –Exception is Farmers Weekly More reading by spouses – less by employees Generally positive ratings for all publications –Majority excellent/good –Less so on day-to-day usefulness –Country-Wide/Farmers Weekly have the most ‘excellents’ –Increase in usage for types of articles for Farmers Weekly associated with increase in readership With changes in classification, some trends different to read

© COLMAR BRUNTON 63 Dairy Publications Drop in readership vs 2004 for all three –All regions but particularly South –Lower incomes particularly (not high) –Particularly older age groups (not under 40) Also some ‘intensity’ drops –Times read, time spent Again most ratings positive –Dairy Exporter consistently has most excellents, particularly in-depth coverage, overall value Dairy Exporter also dominates on most article types

© COLMAR BRUNTON 64 Orchardist Increase in readership to 90% Again drop in intensity – proportion of issues Spouse up as other reader Mainly positive ratings – particularly ease of reading R&D main type of article, followed by news/issues/agribusiness Less rated Orchardist as main source of information on orchard management/tree or vine health

© COLMAR BRUNTON 65 Farmer Profile Older profile vs previous surveys –Otherwise consistent Lower purchase intentions – except travel/investments No growth in computer usage –About a third are daily internet/ users –Low website usage We are open to data requests – please co-ordinate into one per organisation