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Farmer sentiment declines in latest Ag Economy Barometer

Farmer sentiment in the latest Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer declined slightly from the previous month’s record levels.

Professor emeritus Jim Mintert says farmers understand the current state of the ag economy.

“If you look at it from a longer term perspective, it’s still higher than it was back in February,” he says. “We lost a little bit of the optimism that we picked up last month, but we still retained a relatively optimistic outlook.”

But, he tells Brownfield farmers remain optimistic about the future.

“Whether you look at the financial performance index or the capital investment index, they still retained some optimism,” he says. “I think it’s somewhat surprising given the current income outlook and where corn and soybean prices are at.”

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.

Graphic provided by Purdue’s Center for Commercial Agriculture.

AUDIO: Jim Mintert, Purdue University