As an independent direction of modern marketing, agricultural marketing acts as a process of organizing and managing the production of agricultural products, raw materials, and foodstuffs to meet the needs of individual citizens, the industrial sector and the whole of society.
Definition Agricultural Marketing
Agro marketing is a complex system that requires regulation and management. An agricultural enterprise is not self-supporting, so there is a constant exchange of resources and information between it and the surrounding marketing environment. The very fact of its existence and further survival depend on the influence of the environment. To continue its operation, the agricultural enterprise is forced, on the one hand, to adapt to changes in the external marketing environment, and on the other hand to influence it by virtue of its capabilities by developing various agricultural marketing campaigns. The agro marketing system includes a set of the most significant market relations and information flows that connect the agricultural enterprise with the markets for its products.
Who Employs Agricultural Marketing?
The subjects of agro-marketing are:
- suppliers of raw materials, production and labor resources, material and technical supplies;
- all agricultural commodity producers;
- market infrastructure organizations, wholesale and retail trade organizations and various intermediaries, agricultural marketing specialists, commercial and advisory centers, etc.;
- various consumers of agricultural products and food.
Agricultural Marketing Specifics
- Economic results in agriculture depend on natural conditions. This feature of agribusiness is the basis not only for production but also for organizing marketing activities. The land as the main means of production in agriculture, as well as the quality of its use, determine the further quality of the produced products, its volume, and range.
- The working period in agriculture does not coincide with the period of production. The effectiveness of agro-marketing in this particular feature depends on the correct evaluation of demand and its satisfaction, taking into account forecasts and trends.
- The production is seasonal. Taking into account this feature, forms and methods of marketing in agriculture are formed.
- Production of vital goods. Since agriculture is mostly engaged in the production of food products, agro-marketing is faced with the tasks of timely deliveries of products in the right quantities and assortment to different categories of consumers, depending on their age, gender, financial situation, religious beliefs to meet the demand of any buyers.
- A large number of forms of ownership in agriculture also determine a huge number of methods for marketing activities. The competition between the owners of different forms of ownership allows coming up with new strategies and techniques. Depending on the forms, agricultural marketing systems are formed, which differ among themselves in functions, management, adaptability to the demand and needs of consumers.
- Lack of specialists in the field of agricultural marketing. In addition, agrarian marketing as a science is still continuing its formation and does not have well-defined approaches to studying, which does not allow naming the curricula of students who are currently studying in this specialty perfect.
- Insufficient level of marketing support in agriculture. The effectiveness of marketing activities can be assessed only if the entire system of conducting agricultural business is taken into account (production, processing, and sale of products). If at some stage the information supply fails, it can be assumed that further estimates will be inaccurate and will not bring the greatest utility effect that could be achieved in a comprehensive work at all stages.
Agricultural Marketing Strategy
Agricultural marketing techniques have their own peculiarities, connected both with the specifics of agricultural production and with agricultural products. The practical application of marketing in agriculture is more specific than limited. In the conditions of everyday market competition, the manufacturer that takes into account not only the natural and economic conditions of the region, the technological features of crop cultivation, the selection of animal breeds, but also focuses on the existing, and most important, prospective solvent needs available to potential buyers, flexibly reacts to changes the market situation and target for agricultural marketing is in a more favorable position.
Use of marketing for the enterprise is an opportunity of the transformation of requirements of buyers in incomes of the enterprise, maintenance of profitableness and liquidity of the enterprise to the satisfaction of consumer demand. The main thing in the strategy, as a system, is its target orientation and complexity, that is, the connection in a single technological process of all the individual components of this activity. The integrated, program-targeted approach allows developing an effective strategy of "breaking through" to the markets, outlining the directions of activity, consciously concentrating the efforts of the enterprise on selected sectors of the market.
How Is an Agricultural Marketing Campaign Developed?
The production process of agro-marketing consists of stages, interconnected by the common purpose.
The main 3 stages are:
- purchase of raw materials and resources (factors of production) for the production of agricultural products and food;
- the very production of agricultural products;
- the choice of channels for the sale of products and food, the organization of sales, the distribution of products and the satisfaction of requirements for agricultural products and food.