“Specialists in conducting surveys of entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector”

Do farmers in the Netherlands still see a future for themselves? With that central question, BN DeStem wanted to conduct a survey among agricultural entrepreneurs, following the nitrogen crisis. BN DeStem consists of a newspaper and website, focusing on western Noord-Brabant and Zeeuws-Vlaanderen.

“I had good experiences with AgriDirect in previous research, on undermining in agriculture. That’s why we engaged them again now. The people at AgriDirect are independent and have an up-to-date, rich database. Moreover, they are specialists in conducting surveys among entrepreneurs in the sector. They know the target group well and know how to ask the questions. You notice this when you draw up the survey together. Initially, we wanted the survey to be broad in scope, but they convinced us to keep it compact. Partly because of this, many entrepreneurs responded and the survey was representative.

The results were partly as expected: farmers have little trust in the government and think there are too many rules. What was striking, however, was that a majority believes they have no negative impact on nature, environment and climate. Also, six in 10 farmers state that they could not have seen the nitrogen measures coming. With these results, the Algemeen Dagblad and DPG Media’s regional media called farmers and experts and were able to write a good, comprehensive story. Any next time, we will definitely consider using AgriDirect’s expertise again.”