FRIDAY FOCUS
And the Survey Said……..

 The Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council has received the results of a survey of Minnesota residents and soybean farmers relating to MN livestock and poultry operations. A survey was conducted in August and then repeated in September. The survey was designed to measure awareness and attitude shifts after a pilot advertising campaign that included a radio and billboard campaign in Freeborn and Kandiyohi Counties. Some of the key findings are:

IMPORTANCE OF AGRICULTURE TO THE ECONOMY

•  The percentage of residents who label agriculture as extremely important to the state and its economy has increased 17 points since last tested.

FAMILIARITY with ANIMAL AGRICULTURE

•  There has been an increase in familiarity with livestock and poultry operations among adult non-ag residents in the test market area. In August, 20% of adults indicated they were not at all familiar with livestock and poultry operations. However, over the past six weeks, general awareness increased by 9 points .

•  In measuring “familiarity of agriculture,” it was found that fully 95% of those who indicated they had seen, read or heard something about livestock and poultry operations are at least somewhat familiar with animal agriculture.

SEEN/READ/HEARD ADS ABOUT LIVESTOCK & POULTRY OPERATIONS

•  There has been significant positive movement based on what residents have seen, read or heard from ads regarding livestock and poultry operations.

•  The percentage of those who indicate they are more likely to support these operations based on what they have seen, read or heard has climbed 16 points since last tested.

This is just a small sample of the survey results, but the initial findings support the positive correlation between knowledge and support . Look for more survey results in future issues of Minneline.