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Ag Economy Barometer declines slightly in June

An ag economist says farmers are less optimistic about the future.

Jim Mintert with Purdue’s Center for Commercial Agriculture tells Brownfield farmer sentiment declined in the latest Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer.

“It was really attributable to some weaker expectations about the future, the future expectations index fell five points and it was 11 points lower than it was this time last year,” he says.

He says the weaker sentiment is part of a widespread trend in ag. 

“Going back a year ago, that barometer was at 1.21, so farmer sentiment has definitely eroded over the course of the last year,” he says.

Mintert says respondents expressed concern about high input costs and low market prices. 

“Significantly, that has changed somewhat over time,” he says. “If you go back and look at a year ago and compare those results to today, more people today are worried about the risk of lower crop and livestock prices than they were a year ago.”

The Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer is a nationwide measure of the health of the U.S. agricultural economy and surveys 400 agricultural producers on economic sentiment each month.

AUDIO: Jim Mintert, Purdue University