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Survey: farmers concerned about Russia-Ukraine impact on input prices

Farmers are concerned about the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on input prices, according to the latest Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer.

Jim Mintert, director of the Purdue Center for Commercial Agriculture, says farmers were asked how the war will impact U.S. agriculture.  

“Sixty-three percent of the people in the survey said input prices would be the top factor that’s affected in terms of U.S. agriculture, followed by crop prices, a third of the people in the survey chose that, and livestock prices, only three percent chose that,” he says.

He tells Brownfield farmers surveyed are also concerned about input availability.

“Roughly one out of five producers in the survey said input availability was one of their top concerns for the farming operation,” he says. “I think that reinforces this idea that there’s so much uncertainty out there and it’s created a level of anxiety and generated the relatively weak sentiment index readings we’re picking up.”

The March survey was the first opportunity to ask producers how they expect war in Ukraine will impact U.S. agriculture.

The overall ag economy barometer fell to a reading of 113 in March, the weakest farmer sentiment reading since May 2020. The reading was 12 points lower than the previous month and 36 percent lower than March 2021.    

The Index of Current Conditions fell 19 points to 113 and the Index of Future Expectations dropped 9 points to 113.

The monthly national survey of 400 U.S. agricultural producers was conducted from March 14-18.

Audio: Jim Mintert