Agriculture Advertising: Costs, CTR and Real Examples

Agriculture advertising in North America averaged $2.19 per click on a search ad and $3.00 per 1,000 views on a display ad, based on more than 4,000 farm campaigns run between July 2017 and November 2023 (Think Shift). Search ads were clicked 5.74% of the time. Display and social ads were clicked less than 0.5% of the time.

This guide puts those numbers next to the other facts a farm business needs: where farmers go online, which ad methods suit which goal, what real campaigns did well, what the law says about claims, and how to pick an agency. There is a budget calculator to test your own numbers.

Agriculture advertising costs at a glance

The table sums up the channel averages. They come from one agency’s data set, so treat them as a starting point and compare them with your own campaign reports.

Source: Think Shift, 2024 digital advertising benchmarks for agriculture. Campaigns targeted farmers in North America and spent more than $12 million in total. Prices are US dollars and are averages of past campaigns, not quotes.

Farm advertising cost benchmarks: CPC, CPM and CTR

Three short terms matter. CTR is the share of people who see an ad and click it. CPC is what you pay for each click. CPM is what you pay to show an ad 1,000 times.

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Click-through rate by channel

Average CTR of North American farm ad campaigns, July 2017 to November 2023

Think Shift gathered its data from Google Ads (search, video and display), Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram), X Ads and direct placements on farm publications. The advertisers sold seed, crop protection, fertilizer, machinery and finance. Think Shift says the search click rate is much higher than in other industries, while display is about the same.

For comparison, Think Shift’s late-2023 post quotes WordStream’s all-industry benchmarks of a 3.17% search CTR and a $2.69 search CPC. We have not checked these WordStream figures ourselves, and Think Shift does not give their year. Think Shift says there is less competition for clicks in agriculture. It also says ag advertisers are adopting digital ads fast and that this is pushing costs up. Because the data ends in November 2023, today’s prices may differ, so use these figures as a reference point and check current prices.

Search clicks cost more than three times a display click ($2.19 against $0.64). But search ads were clicked about twelve times as often (5.74% against 0.47%), because the person is already looking for a product. Display and social reach farmers who are not searching yet, so judge them on cost per lead, not click rate.

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Cost per 1,000 views by channel

Average CPM, US$, North American farm campaigns, July 2017 to November 2023

Methods of advertising in agriculture

The main methods fit three goals. Pick the goal first, then the channel.

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US farms using the internet

Share of farms, 2023 vs 2025

• Be found by buyers who are searching. Search ads (for example Google Ads for farmers looking for seed, inputs, land or services) suit this goal. Think Shift notes that search users have high intent.
• Reach people who do not know you yet. Display, social and video suit this goal. Think Shift says direct placements on ag publications are mostly awareness buys: you buy a block of views and cannot tune the ad toward a result the way you can on Google or Meta.
• Build trust over years. Dealer events, extension talks, trade press and long-run brand lines work slowly. The examples below show how.

Farmers are online to buy and to sell, which supports digital methods. In USDA’s August 2025 farm technology survey, 85% of US farms had internet access and 82% had a smartphone. Half of farms (50%) used the internet to buy inputs, up from 32% in 2023. Some 29% used it to market their products, up from 23% (USDA NASS, 2025). That means most US farms do not yet market online, and the share who do is growing.

Farms that sell direct to shoppers rely on local advertising and their own channels. The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 116,617 US farms that sold food directly to consumers, worth $3.26 billion in total, against 130,056 farms and $2.81 billion in 2017 (USDA NASS, 2022 Census of Agriculture). Fewer farms sold more in dollars, not adjusted for inflation.

Agriculture social media campaigns

Social ads cost $0.96 a click and $4.62 per 1,000 views in the Think Shift data, and drew a 0.48% click rate. Their strength is targeting: you can aim at a region or a crop interest. Test short video against still images and compare cost per lead, not views.

Agricultural marketing campaigns funded by growers

Many commodity promotions are paid by the farmers themselves. Since 1966, Congress has authorised industry-funded research and promotion boards (“checkoffs”) so that an industry can pool money to build and widen markets, with oversight from the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (USDA AMS). The beef program, for example, is funded by a $1-per-head assessment each time cattle are sold (USDA AMS, beef program). A single farm cannot match that reach, but it can ask what its own checkoff board offers, such as ready-made recipes, ads and research.

Google Ads for farmers: a search budget calculator

Search lets you reach a buyer who is already looking, so it is a sensible place to start. The calculator below turns a monthly budget into clicks, leads and sales. Change every box to your own numbers.

Try the numbers for your own farm below.

Agriculture advertising examples worth studying

Cost figures tell you what a click costs. They do not tell you why someone clicks. The strongest agriculture advertising examples below replace a generic product claim with something specific: a named person, a real place or a line that has been kept for decades.

1. John Deere: “Nothing Runs Like a Deere”

The slogan began in 1971 in snowmobile advertising and stayed the focus of the snowmobile line from 1971 to 1974. Deere stopped making snowmobiles in 1982, but the line moved to the lawn equipment division and later spread across the company (MachineFinder). A short reliability promise, repeated for decades, became part of the brand.

2. Driscoll’s: “One Family, One Earth”

Driscoll’s built a docuseries around the growers, harvesters, employees and grocers behind its berries. The campaign won a 2025 Telly Award (bronze) and was a finalist in the 2025 Digiday Streaming and Video Awards (Blue Book Services, August 2025). The company says the long-form, educational style is meant to show its community and environmental work through real stories.

3. Ram Trucks: “So God Made a Farmer”

The two-minute spot aired in the 2013 Super Bowl. It set Paul Harvey’s 1978 speech to the National FFA Convention over still photographs taken by 10 photographers whom Ram commissioned to document US farm life (ABC News, 2013). The ad honours the work of farmers.

4. The national beef checkoff

The national beef promotion runs under an order issued in 1986, and assessments began on 1 October 1986 (USDA AMS). It shows how many farms can fund one shared promotion for decades.

What these campaigns have in common

Each gives the viewer something concrete: a tested line, named people on camera, real farm photography instead of stock images. If you want to widen reach and earn trust, study that specificity before you study their channel mix.

▶ Ten small agriculture business ideas, from mushrooms to hens, for people starting a farm business. · 6:03

Comparison of the farm advertising campaigns

What a farm advertising agency does

A good agency knows planting and harvest seasons, how farmers buy, and what a fair price per click looks like. Ask any agency to show its own past CPC for farm search ads and its display CPM, then compare them with the Think Shift averages above ($2.19 and $3.00). An agency that cannot show comparable numbers from past work is guessing at your budget.

• Integrated digital marketing: social and video ads alongside direct channels farmers trust, such as dealer events, extension offices and farm trade print.
• Precise media buying: targeting by crop, acreage and region, so the cost per click does not drift up through broad targeting.
• Grower stories: named farmers on camera, the same pattern as the Driscoll’s and Ram examples.
• Plain explanations: inputs, equipment and software described in a farmer’s terms.

For agritech firms the job is harder: explain drones, soil sensors or satellite monitoring through the problem they solve on a specific acreage, and let buyers see a demonstration before they call a rep. A deeper look at the tactics is in our guide to agriculture technology marketing agencies.

▶ Six plain steps to start precision agriculture without buying a robot. · 4:18

Rules your farm ads must follow

Advertising rules differ by product, state and country. This is general information, not legal advice. Check local rules and talk to a lawyer or your regulator for your own case.

• Pesticides: in the US, EPA guidance says advertising claims for a pesticide must not substantially differ from the claims on its label (EPA label review manual, chapter 12). Follow the product label and local rules in every ad.
• Testimonials: the Federal Trade Commission’s endorsement guides say an endorsement must reflect the endorser’s honest opinions or experience, and they cover disclosing material connections such as payment (FTC, 16 CFR Part 255, revised July 2023).
• Sustainability claims: name the standard, the measurement and the date, rather than writing “eco-friendly”.

Best practices for agricultural ads

• Lead with a checkable detail. Replace “sustainable practices” with a certification name and audit date. Replace “trusted by farmers” with a named grower and acreage.
• Compare your CPC with the benchmark. If a search campaign runs well above $2.19 for no clear reason, check match types and ad relevance before raising the budget.
• Split budgets by goal. Use search for buyers who are looking, display and social for awareness. Display costs $3.00 per 1,000 views against $4.62 for social in the Think Shift data, so justify social by targeting or engagement.
• Time ads to the season. Run input ads before planting and marketing ads near harvest.
• Test video. Compare short video against display on cost per lead.
• Measure leads, not clicks. Track phone calls, quote requests and sales.

How satellite data can support farm marketing claims

Farmonaut Satellite + AI Farm Monitoring System gives growers and agribusinesses satellite images of fields, which can help back up a claim about crop condition with dated evidence. Satellites show changes in vegetation, not the cause, so keep claims modest. Related tools on our site include product traceability, carbon footprint monitoring, fleet management, the large-scale farm management app and crop loan and insurance verification. Developers can use the API, with set-up in the developer documentation.

▶ A tutorial on monitoring crops with satellite imagery in the Farmonaut web system. · 8:43

How we checked the numbers

The cost and click figures come from one source, Think Shift’s 2024 benchmark post, which covers North American campaigns from July 2017 to November 2023. We could not find a public figure for total US farm advertising spend, so this page does not give one. Farm-technology use comes from the USDA NASS survey of August 2025. Rules come from EPA and FTC documents. Campaign facts come from the cited news and company pages. Prices are averages of past campaigns, not list prices or quotes.

FAQ

What does farm advertising cost per click in the United States?

Search ads for North American farm advertisers averaged $2.19 per click, display $0.64 and social $0.96, across more than 4,000 campaigns run from July 2017 to November 2023 (Think Shift). Auction prices change, so check your own account.

What is a good click-through rate for agricultural ads?

In the same data, search ads averaged 5.74%, display 0.47% and social 0.48%. Compare each channel with its own average, not with the search figure.

What is the best advertising for farm products?

It depends on the goal. Search suits buyers who are already looking. Display, social and video suit awareness. Producer-funded promotions suit whole commodities. Start with one channel and measure cost per lead.

Do farmers respond to online ads?

Many farms are online: 85% had internet access and 50% bought inputs online in USDA’s 2025 survey. Only 29% used the internet to market their own products, so there is still room for growth.

Can I say anything I like in a pesticide ad?

No. In the US, claims in advertising must not substantially differ from the label (EPA). Follow the product label and local rules, and ask a regulator or lawyer if unsure.

Conclusion

Benchmark prices for farm advertising can be checked: $2.19 per search click, $3.00 per 1,000 display views and $4.62 per 1,000 social views, against a 5.74% search click rate (Think Shift, July 2017 to November 2023). Measure any agency or plan against those figures. Beyond cost, the campaigns that earn attention share a method: a checkable detail beats a vague claim. Apply that to your own ads and revisit the benchmark as prices move.

Related pages on our site: digital marketing strategies for agriculture, agtech PR coverage.