Average Issue Readership
79%
Time Spent Reading
53
mins
Portion of Issue Read
70%
Number of pick-ups
2.9
Australian Broadacre Farmers
QARS
2012QUANTITATIVE AGRICULTURAL READERSHIP SURVEY
Age of owner/Manager 18 - 24 years 1 % 25 - 29 years 3 % 30 - 39 years 15 % 40-54 years 37 % 55-69 years 35 % 70 years or over 9 %
Average age = 51 years
Gender of owner/manager
Male 68 %
Female 32 %
Education level of owner/manager
Primary/no formal 3 % 1-4 years secondary 29 % 5-6 years secondary 19 %
Some tertiary 22 %
College or university degree 26 %
Rural Press National Network of
Rural Weekly Newspapers
NATIONAL PROFILE
Number of people 18yrs+ in household
Average number = 2.2
QARS
2012QUANTITATIVE AGRICULTURAL READERSHIP SURVEY
BROADACRE
NATIONAL PROFILE
Who makes the
purchasing decsions? MALE% FEMALE% BOTH%
Cars 29 5 61
Computers 20 34 37
Mobile phones 19 24 49 Household appliances 8 40 46 Farm Equipment 61 3 32 Who takes primary responsibility for the finances and bookwork relating to the property?
Male 36 %
Female 36 %
What best describes the ownership structure of the property? Family owned & operated (inc. family
trust or company) 94 % Private or publicly listed company 2 %
Not stated 4 %
Do you have a succession plan in place
Yes 37 %
No 40 %
Working on one 22 %
Do you have children at boarding school? (of households with kids 13-17yrs)
Yes 46 %
No 51 %
Do you have off-farm investments?
Yes 64 %
No 33 %
What type of investments?
Shares in companies 66 % Non-agricultural realestate 37 %
Managed funds 29 %
Others 9 %
Where do you seek information from for investment opportunities outside of agriculture? Farm accountant 36 % Financial advisor 29 % Newspapers 24 % Bank representative 22 % Internet 17 % Investment broker 9 % Magazine (s) 7 % Television 5 % Other 8 %
Average gross ON-FARM income p.a.
Under $50,000 17 % $50,000 - $99,999 20 % $100,000 - $149,999 16 % $150,000 - $349,999 18 % $350,000 - $999,999 19 % $1 million + 5 % Average = $311,700
Average gross OFF-FARM income p.a.
Under $50,000 60 % $50,000 - $99,999 21 % $100,000 - $149,999 5 % $150,000 - $349,999 4 % $350,000 - $999,999 1 % $1 million + 1 % Average = $66,800
Rural Press National Network of
Rural Weekly Newspapers
NATIONAL PROFILE
QARS
2012QUANTITATIVE AGRICULTURAL READERSHIP SURVEY
BROADACRE
NATIONAL PROFILE
Do you own any of the following?
Thoroughbred horses 5 % Standard bred horses 3 % Working horses 25 % Pleasure horses 8 % Broodmares for thoroughbred breeding 1 % Broodmares for standardbred breeding 1 % Broodmares for working horses 4 % I do not own any horses 63 %
Do you breed, buy and or/sell working horses?
Yes 9 %
No 88 %
Do you breed, buy and or/sell racehorses?
Yes 2 %
No 94 %
Do you have shares in a racehorses?
Yes 3 %
No 94 %
Where do you mostly purchase your whitegoods & electrical items?
Harvey Norman 33 %
The Good Guys 15 %
Bing Lee 1 %
Domayne 0 %
Other 44 %
Where do you mainly purchase your hardware from?
Bunnings 28 % Mitre 10 24 % Independant 16 % CRT 9 % Landmark 7 % Blackwoods 0 % Masters 0 % Other 13 %
Do you have airconditioning on this property?
Yes 69 %
No 30 %
What type of airconditioning?
Reverse cycle - heating & cooling 67 % Evaporative air cooler 25 %
Cooling only 11 %
Portable 3 %
Total area of property
Less than 250ha 12 %
250-999ha 32 %
1,000-2,499ha 32 %
2,500-4,999ha 16 %
5,000ha + 8 %
Average = 1,932 ha
Total crop size
None 38 % 1-80ha 20 % 81-300ha 10 % 301-650ha 8 % 651-1,200ha 6 % 1,200ha+ 7 % Average = 359 ha
Number of beef cattle
None 25 % 1-99 18 % 100-399 36 % 400-999 11 % 1,000 or more 2 % Average = 217 Number of sheep/lambs None 30 % 1-499 18 % 500-999 11 % 1,000-1,999 11 % 2,000-4,999 13 % 1,000 + 4 % Average = 1,138
Rural Press National Network of
Rural Weekly Newspapers
Tractors owned at present
Any wheeled tractor 77 %
Under 50 hp 28 % 51 - 100 hp 71 % 101 hp - 200 hp 46 % 201+ hp 22 % Tracked tractor 3 % Bulldozer 14 %
Machinery owned at present
PTO Harvestor 6 %
Self propelled harvestor 32 % Baler square or round 32 %
Chainsaw 92 %
Telehandlers 3 %
QARS
2012QUANTITATIVE AGRICULTURAL READERSHIP SURVEY
BROADACRE
NATIONAL PROFILE NATIONAL
PROFILE
Tractors plan to buy/replace in next 12months
Any wheeled tractor 7 %
Under 50 hp 0 % 51 - 100 hp 4 % 101 hp - 200 hp 4 % 201+ hp 2 % Tracked tractor 0 % Bulldozer 0 %
Machinery plan to buy/replace in the next 12 months
PTO Harvestor 0 %
Self propelled harvestor 2 % Baler square or round 1 %
Chainsaw 5 %
Telehandlers 1 %
Do you have a tractor fitted with auto steering down to 2cm accuracy?
Yes 12 %
No 87 %
Auto steering - Did you pay extra for this feature or was it standard? Yes - paid extra for feature 90 % No - standard feature 9 % Do you use mapping software on your tractor?
Yes 8 %
No 88 %
Mapping software - Did you pay extra or was it standard? Yes - paid extra for feature 77 %
Farm vehicle ownership
Motorbike 51 %
ATV/Quad bike 62 %
Side-by-side vehicle 4 % Farm vehicles plan to buy/replace
Motorbike 5 %
ATV/Quad bike 6 %
Side-by-side vehicle 1 %
If you own an ATV/Quad bike is it fitted with roll bars?
Yes 3 %
No 59 %
Not stated 38 %
Which do you use a contractor for?
Combine harvesting 18 % Ensiling/haymaking 31 % Spraying - ground 24 % Spraying - aerial 18 %
Not stated 43 %
Are you using your property’s sprayer to apply liquid fertilser as well as farm chemicals?
Yes 19 %
No 75 %
Who do you market your grain with? (Of grain producers)
Graincorp 14 % AWB/Cargill 9 % Viterra 8 % CBH 7 % Emerald 4 % Other 27 % Not stated 4 %
Do you own an aeroplane?
Yes 1 %
No 98 %
What type of aeroplane do you own?
Light fixed wing 46 % Ultralight aircraft 25 % Microlight or trike 11 %
A g r i c u l t u r a l M e d i a
Want to know more...
RPS Agricultural Media Sydney:
Matthew De La Hunty
D: 02 9478 1220
M: 0417 678 840
E: matthew.delahunty@fairfaxmedia.com.au
Sean Peacock
D: 02 9478 1237
M: 0467 734 831
E: speacock@fairfaxmedia.com.au
Ian Thomson
D: 02 9478 1204
M: 0408 273 138
E: ithomson@fairfaxmedia.com.au
RPS Agricultural Media Melbourne:
Dan Brami
D: 03 8336 8014
M: 0477 312 850
E: dbrami@fairfaxmedia.com.au
Rachel Batt
D: 03 8336 8017
M: 0417 466 265
E: rbatt@fairfaxmedia.com.au
www.rpsagmedia.com.au
QUANTITATIVE AGRICULTUAL READERSHIP SURVEY
METHODOLOGY
QARS
2012QUANTITATIVE AGRICULTURAL READERSHIP SURVEY
BROADACRE
This survey was conducted by means of a self-completion questionnaire distributed to 8,482 broadacre farms around Australia, drawn from the database under the control of Rural Press Marketing Services. The sample was stratified by both state and type of farm, using the ANZSIC categories of Sheep, Beef and Crops.
There were two versions of the questionnaire, one headed Agriculture in Australia Today, and addressed the the Farm Owner and Manager, and the other headed, Women in Agriculture in Australia Today, with the additional nota-tion that ‘It is important that this quesnota-tionnaire be completed by a female owner or member of farm management. Approximately 75% of questionnaires sent comprised the former version, and 25% comprised the women’s version in order to encourage and increase the proportion of female respondents. On completion of the survey, 908 respon-dents were men (72%) and 303 were women (28%), compared to 74% male, 26% female in 2009.
The survey was initially sent out to 6,118 farms in the first week of June, 2012, with a deadline for completion of the 5th August, 2012. A further mailing was sent out in late July, comprising 1,683 questionnaires, in similar propor-tions to the initial mailing.
Participants were offered the opportunity to win one of twenty $150 vouchers for Goodwood Saddlery, or a single first prize of a $2,500 voucher for Goodwood Saddlery.
In late June and through July farms for which phone numbers were available were contacted by McNair Ingenuity Research’s interviewing centre in Crows Nest, NSW, to encourage and remind participants to complete the survey. A further wave of questionnaires were sent out in late August, with proportions adjusted to balance for shortfalls by state. This mailing comprised 611 questionnaires, of which one third had an Eftpos card attached - with the offer to activate $10 credit on return of the completed questionnaire, one third offered no incentive but commenced with a set of questions about ‘farming issues’ in order to generate a higher level of engagement with respondents, and one third had both the incentive and the ‘farming issues’ questions. Results of this stage of the research are tabled below.
The survey was finally closed-off on the 20th September, 2012. In total, surveys were received as follows:
Unweighted responses NSW 408 33% Victoria 334 27% Queensland 231 18% South Australia 129 10% Western Australia 153 12% Total 1,255 100%
Response Rates by Incentive
Goodwood Incentive 14%
Incentive 18%
Farming issues questions 22% Incentive & issues questions 20%
Note regarding weightings: The results below have been weighted two ways; by number of broadacre farms, as provided by ABARE in 2012, and by the number of people living on farms, based on statistics commissioned for the purpose of this research from the ABS in late 2011.
