This month’s Purdue Ag Economy Barometer tells us a lot about how farmers feel about the 2024 election. Before the election and then after, the survey asked 400 U.S. ag producers if environmental regulations impacting agriculture will be more restrictive, less restrictive, or about the same five years from now?
“And the results in November, December compared to October are quite striking,” says Jim Mintert, principal investigator of the survey. He’s now professor emeritus at Purdue after his recent retirement. “61% of the people in the survey said they look for those environmental regulations affecting agriculture to be less restrictive, and only 7% said more restrictive. If you compare that back to October, that’s basically upside down.”
In a similar way, producers were asked before and after the election about income taxes and whether they thought they’d be higher, lower, or about the same five years from now.
“In October, only 8% said they expect to see lower income tax rates. In both November and December, that was up to 36%.”
And Mintert says it was a similar story for estate tax rates, leading him to conclude that farmers’ attitudes about the future are improved because they expect to see a different regulatory and tax environment.
One question they began to ask after the election is, “how likely do you think US agriculture is at risk of a trade war that results in a significant decrease in US ag exports? 48% of producers in December said they think a trade war is either likely or very likely. That’s up a little bit. Up from 42% who felt that way in November.”
And the final question from Mintert in the survey:
“Do you think that the fall 2024 election outcome will lead to a farm safety net that is stronger than, weaker than, or about the same as before the election? And 55% said they expect to see a stronger safety net.”
Hear more from Mintert in the Purdue Commercial AgCast that breaks down the Barometer below.
