4 consumer trends that speak to our greatest challenge in agriculture + food
I always love staying atop of agriculture + food trends, to confirm what I hear, see and am working on with clients, within our Canadian agriculture and food sector. Today, I took in the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity's (CCFI) webinar on 4 Consumer Trends in Canada and their impact on our industry.
The webinar’s findings were based on a report commissioned by Agriculture and Agri-food Canada (AAFC) on Canadian consumer behaviours, especially relating to sustainable agriculture. The report was a project collaboration between CCFI and the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI).
What were the 4 trends shared?
Trend 1️⃣: Environmental Sustainability. Consumers are choosing local food where they can, and are looking to reduce food and packaging waste. There is an increasing focus on this.
Trend 2️⃣: Health and wellness. Canadians are placing a growing emphasis on personalized health and wellness driven by technology and are looking at wellness from a holistic standpoint, including the implications their food has on their health.
Trend 3️⃣: Affordability and Availability. Canadian consumers are ‘trading down’ in many ways, including eating at home more, shopping at discounted stores, buying on 'deals' and buying in bulk.
Trend 4️⃣: Social sustainability (an emerging trend). Many recent events, including the pandemic, Black Lives Matter, reconciliation of Indigenous affairs in Canada and many other social issues, have brought to light social forces that matter to Canadians, especially to younger Canadians. This will certainly impact how they interact with our sector and their relationships with us and whether we put a ‘focus’ on social sustainability moving forward relating to the people issues that matter most to consumers.
Major takeaways that presenter Darcie Doan shared at the end of the webinar?
Effective communication is a major challenge for our sector
Canadians have high expectations for our food system
We need to build on our advantages – Canadian, local, etc
Consumers, investors and government are all driving forces for industry changes (these are just consumer trends and issues at play!)
What did today’s webinar highlight for me as THE major takeaway? Our greatest challenge in agriculture is hands down, communicating.
It’s not public trust. It’s how we communicate to not only maintain public trust, but grow it, with the goal to not see it erode! We are a sector that has many positives, and the research continues to prove we ARE a trusted food system. And our farmers and scientists are also proven to be the most trusted spokespeople. The CCFI 2023 Public Trust Report confirms these details.
But there are areas of growth and opportunities, that we must capitalize on, to address our challenges, that continue to plague us.
And many of those challenges, comes back to how we communicate as a sector – out to Canadians, within our own industry, to government, to mainstream media – in all ways. Both in our messaging and our mediums.
This may be bold to say,
But it doesn’t matter what we’re doing well in, what we’re ‘good’ at, what policies we’re influencing, how we’re working to address the problems with our solutions, and that we’re ultimately growing some of the best food in the world for Canadians – if the end target audience don’t know about it aka. we aren’t communicating effectively.
How we communicate about it WILL continue to be our greatest challenge and the thing that determines our success as a sector in the decades to come.
So, what can we do? Here are some of the HOW’s I got thinking of, after taking in the webinar. I feel like a webinar/presentation may now be needed on these hows.
Review our marketing + communications budgets and ask ourselves if we’re being efficient with our $$$ spend. At the same time, identify other organizations to work with, to have your marketing + communications departments work cohesively and collaboratively and discuss current and emerging campaigns and mediums to work on together.
Better storytelling on social media and through our digital marketing and social media efforts (i.e. segmenting audiences and messaging on social media channels, looking at regional demographics for paid social, and collecting emails to send more newsletters out) - think of where consumers are spending most of their time and meet them where they are!
Leverage our agriculture influencers (they’re there, trust me!)
Capitalize on user-generated content online, and not creating new campaigns that cost $$$
Socialize OUTSIDE of agriculture + food to get into circles to talk about our sector i.e. pitch our professionals to present and speak at other conferences, attend leading-edge conferences in other sectors and markets, create professionals within our industry that are talking heads and spokespeople for media - there are so many ideas in this area.
What should we consider stopping right now?
Right now would be the time to stop sharing recipes with expensive ingredients that Canadians can’t afford; stop creating new campaigns that Canadians may not even find; and stop assuming that Canadians are sitting at home, taking in our virtual tours or 10-minute long videos. The hard truth is that their eyeballs are most likely somewhere else.
So ultimately, what do we need more of? Transparency, the right ‘social circles of influence’ both in person and online, strategic digital marketing and the best damn storytellers with the most riveting stories, to share them.
