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Ag Economy Barometer sees surprising rise from last month

Despite current economic challenges, farmer sentiment rose significantly this month in the latest Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer.

Jim Mintert with Purdue University says the survey was taken the week of February 10th. 

“Of course, conditions have changed a lot since then, with the collapse in prices, we’ve seen the improvement from January into February,” he says. “A lot of the rise  was related to the improvement we saw in commodity prices, especially corn and soybeans. I think producers were expecting to see some payments coming out of USDA.”

He tells Brownfield respondents are expressing more concern about trade policy.

“They’ve been telling us that for several months and it was clear on this survey as well,” he says. “People pretty consistently told us that crop insurance was their number one concern in terms of being the most important to their farming operation. They was down to 18% this month versus 40% choosing trade policy.”

Mintert says he expects next month’s survey results to be more reflective of current trade tensions.

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 with Brownfield’s Erin Anderson at Commodity Classic in Denver, Colorado