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Low farm income anticipation weighs on future expectations

Farmers surveyed in the latest Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer are expressing greater concern about how weakening commodity prices could impact farm income.

Jim Mintert with Purdue’s Center for Commerical Agriculture says…

“The Farm Financial Performance Index gave us one of the weakest readings we’ve ever gotten for that index,” he says. “It doesn’t go back all the way for the life of the survey, but it does go back to the beginning of 2021 with a reading this month of 72. It was down 9 points compared to a month ago at 14 points lower than a year ago.”

He tells Brownfield farmers expect lower incomes for 2024.

“From a management perspective, if you expect really weak incomes, one of the first things you do is probably try and cut back on capital expenditures and that’s exactly what producers are telling us they plan on doing,” he says.

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.

Graph provided by Purdue’s Center for Commerical Agriculture.