Farm Progress

Can Amazon deliver in farm country?

While the online retailer claims to offer Earth’s biggest selection of products, it’s a little lacking in the farm department.

Gail C. Keck, freelance writer

July 3, 2017

3 Min Read
DRIVING IS FASTER: Without high-speed internet in many rural areas, online shopping hasn’t really caught on, since downloading product photos takes longer than actually driving to the store and back.

Amazon’s bid to purchase Whole Foods started speculation about the changes the online retailer could bring to the way Americans buy food. Is this a sign that millennials will soon be getting drone delivery of non-GMO, gluten-free, paleo-friendly mayonnaise?

Or will the takeover of one capitalistic corporation by another cause a millennial revolt against our corporate overlords, leading to a resurgence of local, independent butchers and bakers?

If Amazon’s effect on neighborhood book shops and clothing stores is any indication, we will have organic, preservative-free cauliflower crust pizza flying overhead in no time.

So far, though, Amazon’s influence is lagging in farm country, partly because almost 40% of rural Americans still don’t have access to high-speed broadband internet. Online shopping hasn’t really caught on in places where downloading product photos takes longer than actually driving to the store and back. Even so, according to President Donald Trump, the time is coming when all of rural America will have affordable access to broadband connections. He recently promised to include rural broadband access in the $1 trillion infrastructure proposal he’s sending to Congress. That’s apparently considered affordable in his world.

Whenever reliable broadband service saturates the rural marketplace, Amazon might need to adjust its marketing strategy to appeal to farm customers. At this point, if you search online for “Amazon: Agriculture” you’re likely to end up studying the climate effects of clearing rainforests to plant soybeans in Brazil.

While the online retailer claims to offer Earth’s biggest selection of products, it’s a little lacking in the farm department. In fact, it doesn’t even have a farm department, although it does have a category for “Reptile & amphibian habitat décor.” Incidentally, customers highly recommend the brown batik bearded dragon hammock — only $27.99 with free shipping for Prime members.

Running a search for “farm” on the retail website does yield 647,827 products, including a farming simulator game for PlayStation, a farm vet Barbie doll, and a 2-pound, 8-ounce can of taco-flavored vegetarian meat substitute. According to the product description, it is “perfect for food storage, emergencies, survival, camping and everyday use.”

Apparently, the word “farm” itself is too inclusive to provide any useful search results, so I tried “farm equipment.” That gave me 156,056 results, starting with a John Deere 4020 with an attached rear blade and mower. I thought I might be getting somewhere until I realized the price was a little too low and that the manufacturer, Ertl, recommended it for ages 3-6.

Of course, Amazon does offer products that could be useful on a farm if you know how to look for them. And Amazon even has a pop-up menu that suggests search terms. For instance, when I typed in “farm tools,” Amazon suggested “farm tools for men,” and “farm tools for women.” It turns out Amazon considers heavy-duty red suspenders as the most relevant search result under “farm tools for men.” For women, the top selection is pink power tools.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has built a company worth hundreds of billions of dollars by figuring out what customers want and need, sometimes even before customers realize it themselves. Time will tell what his strategy will mean for the grocery business, and what changes in the grocery business will mean for food producers. In the meantime, he thinks I need pink power tools. I hate to say it, but he might be right.

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Keck writes from her farm in Raymond, Ohio.

 

 

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