Some 56% of participants in the Purdue Ag Economy Barometer survey said their farms were worse off than a year ago, compared to 9% who said they were in better condition.
More than half of American farmers say their farming operations are worse off financially now than a year ago, according to a Purdue University poll released on Tuesday, which also found increasing concern about low market prices for crops and livestock. “The weakness in farmer sentiment could indicate that farmers expect this year’s farm income downturn to last for an extended period,” said the Ag Economy Barometer.
The barometer, a monthly gauge of the health of the agricultural economy, plunged by 13 points to a reading of 100, the second-lowest level in two years. It was on par with late 2015 and early 2016, “a period when farm incomes were declining sharply,” wrote agricultural economists James Mintert and Michael Langemeier of Purdue, who oversee the barometer.
“Farmer sentiment nose-dived in August,” said Mintert and Lamgemeier. “Weakening farm income prospects weighed on farmer sentiment as the outlook for a bountiful fall harvest were more than offset by declining crop prices.” The barometer is based on surveys of 400 large-scale crop and livestock producers.
The USDA was scheduled to update its estimate of U.S. farm income on Thursday. In February, it projected net farm income, an indicator of profitability, at $116.1 billion this year, the second year of steep declines from the highest-ever $185.5 billion of 2022. A University of Missouri think tank says season-average corn, soybean, and wheat prices will run at pre-pandemic levels this year and in the near future.
Some 56% of participants in the Purdue survey said their farms were worse off than a year ago, compared to 9% who said they were in better condition. A rising share of farmers — 30% — named “lower crop and/or livestock prices” as their top concern for 2025, nearly as large a group as those who chose “higher input costs,” 33%. “This was a marked departure from a year earlier when just 20% of survey respondents pointed to weak commodity prices as a top concern for their farm operation,” said Mintert and Langemeier.
Nearly one fourth of farmers said they expected farmland values to fall in the next year, almost twice as many as in the previous survey. “Notably, the short-term farmland index posted its lowest reading since spring 2020,” said the Purdue report. But 70% of crop farmers in the survey said they expected farmland rental rates to be unchanged in 2025.
For the Ag Barometer, Purdue interviews operators with production worth at least $500,000 a year. According to USDA data, 7.4% of U.S. farms have annual sales of $500,000 or more. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 5%. The latest survey was conducted from August 12-16.
The Ag Economy Barometer was available here.
Agriculture