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30th May 2011

Urban Farmers Initiative Market Research Report Prepared by Azad Aziz, Shona Lee and Andrew Cotterell XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Growing Solutions Marketing Group

Contents Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................... i Introduction .................................................................................................................................... i Research Approach ......................................................................................................................... i Key Results .................................................................................................................................... i Conclusions & Implications ........................................................................................................... ii Limitations .................................................................................................................................... ii 1. Background Information ................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Market Research Problem Analysis .......................................................................................... 1 1.2 Secondary Data on Current Urban Farming Initiatives .............................................................. 2 2. Research Approach ........................................................................................................................ 4 2.1 Research Method ..................................................................................................................... 4 2.2 Sampling Size and Method....................................................................................................... 4 2.3 Procedure for Administering Surveys ....................................................................................... 4 2.4 Format of Survey ..................................................................................................................... 5 2.5 Data Collation.......................................................................................................................... 5 3. Presentation of Results................................................................................................................... 6 3.1 Profile of Respondents Currently Involved in Urban Farming Activities ................................... 6 Demographic Profile of Respondents ............................................................................................. 6 2.2 What Messages Would be Most Effective to Promote UFI? .................................................... 12 2.3 What Initiatives Should Be Developed? ................................................................................. 16 2.4 What Channels of Communication Should Be Used? ............................................................. 18 3. Conclusions, Implications and Limitations ................................................................................... 20 References....................................................................................................................................... 25 Appendix ........................................................................................................................................... I

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Executive Summary Introduction This report was commissioned by the Urban Farmers Initiative (UFI) to determine the most appropriate strategy for establishing and implementing Urban Farming initiatives in Perth. In order to outline an appropriate strategy, this report addresses four key research questions and will provide recommendations based on our findings. The research questions addressed are:1.

Who currently practices Urban Farming in Perth?

2.

What marketing messages would be most effective to promote UFI initiatives?

3.

What initiatives should be developed to promote Urban Farming?

4.

What channels of communication should be used?

Research Approach In order to answer the research questions Growing Solutions facilitated a 15-minute telephone survey that was administered by students from UWA between 5 th – 12th May 2011. Students collected a total of 456 responses using systematic random sampling and the White Pages Residential Directory for Perth 2010/11 as a sampling frame. The survey gathered information on the extent of respondents‟ current home food growing practices, their perceived gardening knowledge, motivations and interest in other Urban Farming activities. It also gauged their channel preference for receiving information, and a range of demographics. Responses were coded and analysed using SPSS software.

Key Results 

Two-thirds of respondents grow food at home.



39% of respondents who grow food at home produce an excess amount of food.



The highest motivation for growing food at home was because it is an enjoyable pastime (74% of respondents agree), then because it helps the environment (56% of respondents agree) and lastly because it saves money on the food bill (39% of respondents agree).



The most active and interested age group is between 35-54 years old.

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

The more knowledge and confidence respondents had in growing food the more likely they were to grow food at home.

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Overall, current interest in Urban Farming programmes is quite low.



Respondents felt that they would grow more food at home if they gained more knowledge in growing practices.



Age has an impact on the preferred method to receive information.

Conclusions & Implications From our key findings, these are recommendations which we believe UFI should take into consideration:

UFI should promote the joys of growing your own food as the main message and reason for getting involved with Urban Farming.



UFI should develop initiatives that raise the interest levels in the younger (under 25 year olds) audience. Social network sites would be an effective and cost efficient way to do this.



UFI should develop initiatives that increase knowledge and confidence of growing your own food. In home initiatives should be largely aimed towards houses. Promote how to grow food at home when you have little free time.



UFI should communicate mainly by email as it is a diverse media platform and the most preferred channel for the widest age range.



UFI should use mail leaflets to target those most involved or interested.

Limitations We have identified three limitations of the market research design. The first limitation is that as telephone surveys are limited to simple questions, we were not able to get more in-depth responses which would allow for more data collected and the people administering the survey lacked training and so questions may be interpreted differently based on each interviewer style. The second limitation is the sample is not a perfect fit for the population of Perth households as many houses are not listed in the White Pages. Lastly, the large number of respondents who refused to participate in the survey may represent a particular portion of the population which may have led to a variation in the current findings.

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1. Background Information 1.1 Market Research Problem Analysis This report discusses the key findings from market research conducted for the Urban Farmers Initiative (UFI). Urban Farming refers to the practice of growing your own food within the boundaries of your home or local community to exchange or share the produce within that community. The management problem faced by the Urban Farmers Initiative is in evaluating the most appropriate strategy for establishing and implementing initiatives, the target market in which to focus on and how to best communicate with this target market. This report addresses four key research questions and will provide recommendations based on the findings. The research questions are:1. Who currently practices Urban Farming in Perth? A profile of respondents currently involved in Urban Farming practices in Perth will be designed based on data collected through a telephone survey. This will provide an insight into the type of people interested in Urban Farming based on age and gender. It will also identify the level and availability of space in which to practice Urban Farming at home. Questions from the survey will gauge respondents‟ feelings and motivations towards Urban Farming. This information will allow UFI to better understand their target market. 2. What marketing messages would be most effective to promote UFI initiatives? Survey questions have been designed to gain insight into respondents‟ current awareness of Urban Farming, their perceptions of Urban Farming and the reasons that they would or would not participate in Urban Farming. Implications from data collected will assist UFI in designing a marketing message that can effectively reach their target market to promote UFI initiatives. 3. What initiatives should be developed to promote Urban Farming? Being able to relate the reason for getting involved to the type of person will give a further insight into the ways that UFI can promote its initiatives to certain groups of people. We will achieve this through survey responses.

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4. What channels of communication should be used? This objective will provide UFI with the knowledge of how to best reach an audience that will be most likely to participate and embrace Urban Farming initiatives. We will achieve this through survey responses assessing four different channels: Email, mail leaflet/newsletters, telephone and social network sites.

1.2 Secondary Data on Current Urban Farming Initiatives Although Urban Farming initiatives are well established now in the Eastern States it is a fairly new concept to the residents of Western Australia. This being said, Urban Farming programs have been developing throughout the region in recent years. The most successful initiative so far has been the introduction of community gardening. There are now at least 39 community gardens in WA (see appendix for map) that encourage local residents, businesses and schools to support, contribute and tend to the gardens (Australian City Farms 2011). Community Gardens The growth of Urban Farming in WA is largely attributable to the National Community Gardens Network. The organisation is dedicated to connecting and promoting community gardeners throughout Australia and recently concluded a two-year campaign to build community gardening in WA (Australian City Farms 2011). Their website provides information on events, finding community gardens, promotion, funding, news, and information on successful gardening. Through their campaign they have also set up the Community Gardens WA website which provides the same sort of resources for the WA region as well as information on how to set up your own community garden (Australian City Farms 2011). Some of the larger Community Gardens currently operating are City Farm in East Perth, Fern in Fremantle and Edible Community Gardens in West Leederville. City Farm was established in 1994 by the Planetary Action Network (PAN) from a scrap metal yard. It is now a thriving organic permaculture centre that promotes environmental awareness and community involvement as well as festivals, events, tours and workshops (Australian City Farms 2011). Fern also holds events and workshops relating to sustainable living as well as the opportunity to contribute to their permaculture gardens (Fremantle Environmental Resources Network 2

2009). The preservation of their centre - located in the heart of Fremantle - was supported by over 1000 residents. Edible Commmunity Gardens was set up by the West Leederville Resident Association and the Town of Cambridge (Slow Food Perth 2010). They too tend to permaculture gardens and currently possess a communal garden as well as 20 hireable 4x2 metre plots. Other community gardens are located throughout the metropolitan region such as Earthwise Community in Subiaco, Piney Lakes in South Perth, Crossroads Community Garden in Gwellup and many more. School Gardens School gardens are another initiative being set up to promote sustainability and educate youth. Food with Latitude is a project led by Slow Food Perth. Primary schools build their own gardens and educate students on food production, security, indigenous food culture and cooking. Those involved can then share information, images and stories through a web-based network. Websites There are a number of website dedicated to providing information and online forums to connect people growing, selling or looking to buy produce or wanting to get involved in Urban Farming. Some local pages are Urban Farming Oz which provides advice on how to start your own Urban Farm as well as allowing growers to communicate their stories and questions with one another (Urban Farming OZ 2011). Other websites provide information such as where to find local growers markets, organic produce, where to buy plants and equipment. Food Swaps Other Urban Farming Initiatives that have been established in other states are Food Swap Centres. These markets allow people to trade their home-grown surplus with other growers, obtain fresh fruit and vegetables and connect with like-minded people. Urban Orchard in Melbourne began three years ago with 35 members and has grown rapidly to encompass residents from over 200 households (De Silva 2010). Meetings take place every Saturday and there is no set price on items so growers must agree on their perception of a „fair swap.‟ There is also no money involved.

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2. Research Approach 2.1 Research Method In order to collect data on home food growing practices and interest in Urban Farming programmes, students from UWA administered a telephone survey, which took about fifteen minutes to complete. The data collection period was from 5 th – 12th May 2011. A telephone survey was chosen as it could be completed with relative ease and was cost effective in administering. A telephone survey provides good sample control and it generally has a higher response rate than other data collection methods such as email or web-based surveys (Refer to Appendix 1 for a copy of the survey).

2.2 Sampling Size and Method The White Pages Residential Directory for Perth 2010/11 was used as the sampling frame because it is an easily accessible, near complete list of Perth residential households and a way to contact them. We can estimate the sampling error as we used systematic random sampling. Each student was assigned three pages White Pages Residential Directory for Perth 2010/11 according to their alphabetical order. Students then rang every fifth number until they collected 3 responses. A sample size of 456 respondents was collected. This sample is large enough to allow for estimations within a population of 700,000 to within 5 percentage points 95% of the time. As of June 2010, there is an estimated population of 2,296,411 people living in Western Australia (ABS: Western Australia at a Glance 2011). As of 2010, there are 860,000 households in Western Australia (ABS: Australian Social Trends 2011). Quality and validity was managed by tutors calling about 1 in 10 respondents to ensure correct data collection.

2.3 Procedure for Administering Surveys Two screening questions were asked prior to completing a survey, ensuring that all respondents were over 18 and had a suitable area on their property for growing fruit and/or vegetables. Respondents not meeting this category were thanked for their time and interviewers moved onto the next respondent. Interviewers would then read out each question and record responses provided. At the end of the survey, demographic information such as gender, age, type of residence and postcode was collected and the time and date of the interview recorded.

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2.4 Format of Survey The survey itself consisted of likert scale questions (5 possible responses from “Strongly Disagree” to “Strongly Agree”) about respondents‟ attitudes and practices towards growing food at home, the benefits that they consider meaningful from growing food at home and how interested they would be in information and programmes related to growing their own food. Scale questions included how much area they had available to grow food (measured in square metres), what percentage of that is currently being used and the percentage of food that is grown but not consumed by the people that live there. Respondents selected from a list the fruit and vegetables that they currently grow on their property and what they do with any extra food that they grow. There was one ranking question where respondents were asked to rank their preferred way to receive information on growing food.

2.5 Data Collation At the end of the data collection period, all responses were coded in the data analysis software, SPSS. Statistical analysis was carried out through this software and the key findings are reported in the Presentation of Results section.

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3. Presentation of Results This section will discuss the key findings from our data analysis of the survey responses. It will first highlight the demographic profile of respondents that participated in the survey. The findings will be discussed in relation to each of the four research questions mentioned.

3.1 Profile of Respondents Currently Involved in Urban Farming Activities In answering the research question on the type of people currently involved in Urban Farming and their interests, we have come up with a profile of respondents currently involved in Urban Farming practices based on demographic information as well as questions related to their current practices and personal motivations. Demographic Profile of Respondents Based on telephone surveys conducted, our sample consists of 456 respondents within Western Australia. Demographic information collected from each respondent including (1) age, (2) gender, (3) type of residence, (4) number of people living at their residence, (5) number of children below the age of fifteen living with them and (6) postcode of their residence. Growing Fruit and Vegetables at Home Using question 7 on „the percentage of area currently used for growing fruits and vegetables‟, we have identified the group of respondents already involved in Urban Farming activities. Data was recoded into two categories; those who responded with 0 as the percentage of area currently used for growing food were grouped as “Doesn‟t Grow Food.” All other valid responses were classed as “Grows Food.” Of the respondents surveyed, 65.7% are currently growing their own food at home. Age Group There was a relatively even spread of respondents across the age groups. The 18 – 25 category was the largest group with 23.20% of responses, followed by the 45 – 54 category with 20.30%. The older age groups presented a larger percentage of people who grew food at home, with 79% of the 45-54 asserting that they grew food at home. The difference between 6

age group and growing food was significant through by means of a Chi-test comparing the two variables (p=0.000). 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

21% 42%

54%

24%

25%

47%

Doesn't Grow Food 79% 58%

18-25

46%

26-34

76%

75%

55-64

65+

53%

35-44

45-54

Grows Food

Fig.1 shows the breakdown of respondents currently involved in Urban Farming Activities in each age group.