Farmers across the U.S. are feeling better about the state of the ag economy. That’s according to the latest Ag Economy Barometer survey from Purdue University.
Dr. Michael Langemeier, Associate Director of the Purdue Center for Commercial Agriculture, says he was surprised that more farmers have an improved outlook on the ag economy given the significant drop in commodity prices over the past year.
“When you look at corn and soybeans, for example, and you project net returns for corn and soybeans in 2024, I think this could be one of the worst years in terms of net return since 2007,” according to Langemeier. “And about 55% of the people surveyed are primarily corn and soybean producers, and so I was surprised.”
Dr. Jim Mintert, the Director of Purdue’s Center Commercial Agriculture, believes the timing of when they conducted the survey may have played a factor with the results.
“The political environment might have had an influence on sentiment. The survey was July 15 through July 19—which coincided with the Republican National Convention that took place in Milwaukee,” says Mintert. “We’ve seen this in the past in 2016 following that general election when Trump was elected when we saw a big jump in sentiment. However, in 2020 when Trump lost, we saw things move the opposite direction.”
Mintert lays out the top concerns that are currently on the minds of U.S. farmers.
“The number one issue continues to be high input costs, which was chosen by 34 percent of the people in the survey,” according to Mintert. “The number two issue is lower crop and livestock prices. That was chosen by 29 percent of the people we surveyed as their top concern.
“The third issue—which has changed—is concerns about rising interest rates. That did decline this month. It was chosen by 17 percent of the people in the July survey. Compared to this time last year, concerns over rising interest rates was chosen by roughly one out of four or 24 percent of the farmers we surveyed,” says Mintert.
Click BELOW to hear the Purdue Commercial AgCast—hosted by Dr. Jim Mintert and Dr. Michael Langemeier—as they review the results of the latest Purdue Ag Economy Barometer survey.
