After Election, Farmer Sentiment Towards Future Turns Sour

WEST LAFAYETTE, IN – The Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer dropped 16 points to a reading of 167 in November, down from its all-time high set just one month ago. As farmers are more pessimistic towards the future of the agricultural economy (Index of Future Expectations fell 30 points), an on-going rally in commodity prices and CFAP-2 payments continued to support producers’ current views (Index of Current Conditions rose 9 points, to an all-time high). The Ag Economy Barometer is calculated each month from 400 U.S. agricultural producers’ responses to a telephone survey and this month’s survey was conducted after the general election. Producers were more pessimistic about future economic conditions on their farms in November than they were just a month earlier, which is the opposite of what happened following the November 2016 election. That year producers became much more optimistic about the future following the election and, in turn, that optimism about the future helped drive the Ag Economy Barometer up sharply in late 2016 and early 2017.
(SOURCE: All Ag News)