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 …