The agricultural advertising playbook hasn't changed much in decades. Farm publications. Trade shows. Field days. Radio spots during the morning market report.
These channels still matter. But the farmers and ranchers you're trying to reach have changed how they consume information, make decisions, and evaluate purchases. The commodity boards trying to build consumer demand face audiences who've grown skeptical of traditional advertising altogether.
What's actually working in agricultural advertising today? This guide separates effective strategies from expensive habits.
The Two Worlds of Agricultural Advertising
Agricultural advertising serves two fundamentally different purposes that require different approaches:
Producer-Facing Advertising
Reaching farmers, ranchers, and agricultural producers to sell inputs, equipment, services, or ideas. This is the traditional domain of agricultural advertising agencies.
The audience is:
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Highly informed about their industry
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Skeptical of marketing claims
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Influenced by peer experience and on-farm results
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Time-constrained during critical seasons
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Increasingly digital but still values trusted print publications
Consumer-Facing Advertising
Building demand for agricultural commodities among end consumers. This is primarily the domain of commodity boards and checkoff programs.
The audience is:
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Largely disconnected from agricultural production
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Influenced by health, sustainability, and convenience messaging
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Reached through mainstream consumer channels
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Subject to the say-do gap between stated preferences and actual behavior
Effective agricultural advertising recognizes which audience you're addressing and adjusts accordingly.
What's Working: Producer-Facing Advertising
Peer Influence Over Brand Claims
Farmers trust other farmers. The most effective producer advertising doesn't lead with brand claims—it leads with producer stories and results.
What works:
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Testimonial-driven campaigns featuring real operations
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Case studies with specific, verifiable results
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Farmer-to-farmer content (video, podcasts, written profiles)
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Ambassador programs that activate influential producers
What doesn't:
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Generic claims without proof points
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Stock photography of idealized farm scenes
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Messaging that sounds like it was written by someone who's never been on a farm
The authenticity bar is high. Producers can spot manufactured enthusiasm immediately.
Digital Has Arrived (Finally)
The stereotype of farmers as technology-averse was always wrong, but the advertising industry was slow to catch up. Today's producers are online—researching equipment, checking markets, watching YouTube tutorials, participating in farming forums.
Channels that work:
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YouTube (product demonstrations, how-to content, equipment reviews)
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Facebook groups (particularly for specific commodities or equipment types)
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Podcasts (farm-focused shows have loyal, engaged audiences)
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Email (still highly effective for considered purchases)
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Targeted digital ads (retargeting works; cold display often doesn't)
Channels that underperform:
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Instagram and TikTok (limited reach among core producer demographics)
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Generic display advertising (low engagement, banner blindness)
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Programmatic without strong targeting (wasted spend)
The key insight: digital works for agriculture, but agricultural digital looks different from consumer digital. The platforms and tactics that work for consumer brands often miss the producer audience entirely.
Trade Publications Still Matter—Selectively
Farm publications have lost ground but haven't disappeared. The survivors have loyal audiences who actually read the content.
What works:
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Advertising in publications with genuine editorial value
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Native content and advertorials (clearly labeled) that provide useful information
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Consistent presence over time rather than one-off insertions
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Coordinated print and digital campaigns
What doesn't:
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Treating all farm publications equally (reach and engagement vary dramatically)
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Print-only campaigns without digital integration
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Assuming readership equals the audience you need
The best approach: be selective, measure response, and integrate print into a broader media mix rather than treating it as the default.
Trade Shows and Field Days: Quality Over Quantity
In-person events remain powerful for agricultural advertising—but the calendar is crowded and attention is fragmented.
What works:
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Fewer events with stronger presence and activation
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Interactive demonstrations rather than passive booth displays
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Pre-event outreach to schedule meetings with priority prospects
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Post-event follow-up that actually happens
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Field days on working operations with real-world conditions
What doesn't:
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Attending every event without strategic prioritization
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Static booth displays with brochures nobody reads
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Collecting business cards without a follow-up system
The trade show circuit is expensive. Concentrate resources on the events that actually reach your audience and build genuine engagement.
What's Working: Consumer-Facing Commodity Advertising
Consumer advertising for agricultural commodities operates under different rules. You're not selling a branded product—you're building demand for an entire category.
Research Before Creative
The most common mistake in commodity advertising: jumping to creative execution before understanding the consumer.
What works:
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Consumer research to identify actual purchase drivers (not assumed ones)
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Message testing before campaign investment
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Understanding the say-do gap—what consumers claim versus how they behave
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Segmentation based on behavior, not just demographics
What doesn't:
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Assuming domestic consumer insights apply to export markets
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Relying on outdated research conducted years ago
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Building campaigns around producer priorities rather than consumer motivations
The commodity boards that outperform invest in understanding their consumers before spending on advertising. Research isn't a luxury—it's the foundation of effective spend.
Channel Strategy Matters More Than Creative
Even brilliant creative fails if it doesn't reach the right consumers in the right context.
What works:
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Digital video (YouTube, connected TV, social video)
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Influencer partnerships with authentic fit (food creators, health and wellness voices)
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Retail media networks (reaching consumers at point of purchase)
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Recipe and meal inspiration content (practical utility drives engagement)
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Foodservice marketing (chefs and operators influence consumer perception)
What doesn't:
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Mass television without targeting (expensive and imprecise)
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Social media without a content strategy (posting isn't marketing)
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One-off campaigns without sustained presence
The media landscape has fragmented. Effective commodity advertising builds presence across multiple touchpoints rather than betting on a single channel.
Integration Beats Isolation
Consumer advertising works harder when connected to trade marketing and retail activation.
What works:
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Coordinating consumer campaigns with retail promotions
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Aligning advertising timing with seasonal demand peaks
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Supporting advertising with point-of-sale materials
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Ensuring product availability before driving demand
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Building foodservice presence alongside retail advertising
What doesn't:
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Running consumer advertising without retail support
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Creating demand for products consumers can't find
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Disconnecting brand advertising from trade marketing
The strongest commodity campaigns integrate consumer pull with trade push. Advertising alone doesn't move product—the whole system needs to work together.
Measurement: The Persistent Challenge
Agricultural advertising has historically been difficult to measure. Producer-facing campaigns struggle to connect advertising exposure to purchase behavior. Consumer-facing campaigns face attribution challenges across long purchase cycles.
Producer-Facing Measurement
What's measurable:
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Digital campaign metrics (impressions, clicks, engagement, conversions)
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Lead generation and pipeline contribution
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Trade show ROI (meetings, opportunities, closed business)
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Website traffic and content engagement
What's difficult:
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Connecting advertising to sales with long decision cycles
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Isolating advertising impact from distribution, pricing, and competitive factors
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Measuring brand awareness and consideration among producers
Best practices:
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Track what's trackable; don't pretend to measure what you can't
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Use tracking studies to measure awareness and consideration over time
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Build attribution models that account for multiple touchpoints
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Accept that some advertising value is difficult to quantify precisely
Consumer-Facing Measurement
What's measurable:
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Digital campaign performance
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Awareness and preference tracking (through research)
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Sales and consumption data (category level, with caveats)
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Retail velocity and distribution metrics
What's difficult:
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Connecting commodity advertising to purchase behavior (no brand-level tracking)
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Isolating advertising impact from price, availability, and competitive dynamics
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Measuring long-term brand building versus short-term activation
Best practices:
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Invest in tracking studies that measure awareness, consideration, and preference
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Monitor category sales data while acknowledging attribution limitations
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Track leading indicators (awareness, search volume, social conversation) alongside lagging indicators (sales)
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Report honestly about what measurement can and cannot prove
The best agricultural advertisers measure what matters, report with appropriate humility, and continuously optimize based on available data rather than waiting for perfect attribution.
Common Mistakes in Agricultural Advertising
Talking Like Marketers, Not Farmers
Producer advertising fails when it sounds like it was written by an agency that's never set foot on a farm. Authenticity matters. The language, imagery, and proof points need to reflect genuine understanding of agricultural operations.
Assuming Consumers Care About What Producers Care About
Commodity advertising sometimes emphasizes what producers think matters rather than what consumers actually value. Consumers don't care about production practices for their own sake—they care about outcomes: taste, nutrition, sustainability, value.
One-Size-Fits-All International Campaigns
Export market advertising requires localization, not translation. What works in the domestic market rarely transfers directly to international consumers with different cultural contexts, competitive sets, and consumption occasions.
Underfunding Measurement
Advertising budgets often prioritize media over research and measurement. This saves money in the short term but leads to wasted spend over time. Knowing what works is worth the investment.
Campaign Thinking Over Brand Building
Single campaigns with fixed start and end dates don't build lasting brand equity. Effective advertising builds consistent presence over time, with campaigns layered on top of always-on activity.
The Role of Research in Advertising Effectiveness
The gap between effective and ineffective agricultural advertising often comes down to research.
Before the campaign:
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Who exactly are we trying to reach?
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What do they currently think, feel, and do?
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What messages will actually resonate?
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Which channels will reach them effectively?
During the campaign:
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Is the message landing as intended?
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Are we reaching the right audience?
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What's working and what isn't?
After the campaign:
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Did awareness, consideration, or preference shift?
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What did we learn for next time?
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How do we improve the next effort?
Traditional research approaches—surveys, focus groups, tracking studies—provide valuable insight but face constraints: they're expensive, slow, and sometimes tell you what respondents think you want to hear rather than what they actually believe.
Emerging approaches, including AI-powered synthetic research, offer alternatives that can provide faster, more cost-effective insight for agricultural advertisers operating on tight timelines and budgets.
Agricultural Advertising in 2026: The Bottom Line
What's working:
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Authenticity over polish — Real producers, real results, real language
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Digital integration — Not digital-only, but digital-inclusive
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Research-informed strategy — Understanding audiences before spending on creative
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Channel precision — Reaching the right audience in the right context
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Integrated campaigns — Connecting advertising to trade marketing and retail activation
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Honest measurement — Tracking what matters, reporting what's provable
What's not:
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Generic messaging that could apply to any industry
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Print-only or broadcast-only strategies
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Campaign-based thinking without brand building
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International campaigns without localization
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Advertising without retail and trade support
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Spending without measurement
Agricultural advertising is neither dying nor fundamentally transformed. The channels have evolved, the audiences have changed how they consume information, and measurement has improved. But the fundamentals remain: understand your audience, craft messages that resonate, reach them where they are, and measure what works.
The advertisers who succeed are those who stay close to their audiences—whether producers or consumers—and continuously adapt based on evidence rather than assumption.
