Advertising for agricultural inputs - theoretical framework and empirical results

The German farmers but. inputs for 33 billion DM p. a. This market has a greater volume than the market for all plant products. But agricultural economics normally does nor deal with the marketing problem of a firm, which has to sell products to the farm sector. German agricultural economics are not prepared for a professional marketing job in selling products to the farmers. So the marketing and advertising strategies of the input industry is relative unprofessional. This article describes the advertising behaviour of the pesticide industry. Empirical rests demonstrate, that the advertising behaviour of the most suppliers is not according to normative Fries theory and information economics. Advertising strategies, which are based on normative theory, can significantly reduce the marketing costs of the input industry.