Amid rising costs and lower prices, farmer sentiment increases
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Farmer sentiment saw a slight increase last month as the Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer rose 6 points in July. Purdue says producers were somewhat more optimistic about both current and future economic conditions on their farms compared to June.
The national survey of farmer’s economic outlook, conducted by the Purdue Center for Commercial Agriculture, increased to a reading of 103.
The barometer is primarily based on two sub-indices that measure future expectations and current conditions. The Index of Current Conditions rose 10 points to a reading of 109, and the Index of Future Expectations rose 4 points to a reading of 100.
Despite increases among all three indices this month, Purdue says they were still 23% to 24% lower than last year.
“Even though we saw a slight uptick in sentiment this month, there is still a tremendous amount of uncertainty in the agricultural economy,” said James Mintert, the barometer’s principal investigator and director of Purdue University’s Center for Commercial Agriculture. “Key commodity prices, including wheat, corn and soybeans, all weakened during the month and producers remain concerned over rising input prices and input availability.”
The Ag Economy Barometer is calculated each month from 400 U.S. agricultural producers’ responses to a telephone survey. Purdue says farm operators in this month’s survey voiced concerns about several issues impacting their operation, including higher input prices, lower crop prices, rising interest rates and availability of inputs. This month’s survey was performed July 11-15.