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Farmer sentiment declines as farmers become more concerned about tariffs and soybean exports
An ag economist says ongoing tariff policy uncertainty has led to a decline in this month’s Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer.
Professor emeritus Jim Mintert says producers are still concerned about the loss of soybean market share to China.
“Fifty-two percent of respondents said they thought soybean exports over the next five years would remain about the same or actually decrease,” he says. “Over half of the people in our survey have a corn or soybean enterprise, so what happens in the soybean market is front and center for those folks.”
But, he tells Brownfield farmers are optimistic about the overall direction of the ag economy.
“It really encompasses more than what’s going on in agriculture,” he says. “I think it’s more about where producers stand on policy of the U.S. in a general sense, because most survey respondents are still on board with the current policy direction.”
Mintert says he expects the USDA’s Farmer Bridge Assistance Program to play a role in shaping producer sentiment in the coming months.
The 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’s Center for Commercial Agriculture
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