A ‘Trump bump’ on the farm, with a dollop of trade war anxiety
As it did eight years ago, Donald Trump's victory in the presidential election has ignited a surge of enthusiasm among farmers, although two-fifths of them say there is a risk of a damaging trade war, said a Purdue University poll released on Tuesday. The Ag Economy Barometer, a gauge of farmer confidence, surged 30 points to its highest reading since May 2021.
Farmer confidence rebounds, reaches highest level in a year
High crop yields and a rapid fall harvest helped boost farmer confidence to its highest level since last November, just a month after it fell to its lowest reading in six years, said a Purdue University poll on Tuesday. "Farmers' optimism about the future shifted in October, leading to an expectation of better financial performance in 2025 than in 2024," said the monthly Ag Economy Barometer.
Fears of falling income drive farmer confidence to lowest level in eight years
Farmer confidence tumbled by 21 percent in the past two months to its lowest level since 2016, with three of every four farmers saying they expect bad times for the agricultural economy in the year ahead, said Purdue University on Tuesday. Producers taking part in the Ag Economy Barometer survey said they were worried about declining income because of low commodity prices and high production costs.
Rising input costs cloud the sunny outlook for farm income
High commodity prices are the fueling a strong farm economy in the Midwest and Plains this summer, but agricultural lenders worry that higher prices for seeds, fertilizer, fuel and other inputs will put the brakes on farm income in the near term. "Lenders reported growing concerns about 2023," said the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank, one of four regional Feds to survey bankers every three months about farm finances.
Three-fourths of farmers fear coronavirus damage to their income
The coronavirus pandemic punctured the Farm Belt euphoria of early 2020 and sent a Purdue University gauge of farmer confidence plunging by 28 percent in one month. Three-fourths of producers taking part in the monthly Ag Economy Barometer said they were worried about the impact on their …
Trade war and planting delays erode farmer confidence
U.S. farmers don’t expect the Sino-US trade war to end soon and fewer of them expect to be winners when it does, said a Purdue poll released on Tuesday. The monthly Ag Economy Barometer said farmer confidence was the the lowest since October 2016, wiping out the “Trump bump” that followed …
Farmer sentiment darkens as China hopes fade
A Purdue University gauge of farmer confidence plunged by 18 points, its largest drop since the start of the Sino-U.S. trade war, amid rising doubts that a resolution is near, said two economists who oversee the Ag Economy Barometer on Tuesday. The monthly poll of crop and livestock …