Farmer Sentiment Rises As Income Prospects Improve, Concerns About Key Policy Issues Remain

Farmer sentiment improved modestly in December as the Purdue University-CME Group Ag Economy Barometer rose to a reading of 174, up 7 points from November. Both of the barometer’s sub-indices, the Index of Current Conditions and the Index of Future Expectations, were higher in December than in November although the current conditions improvement was three-times the size of the future expectations increase. Purdue ag economists James Mintert and Michael Langemeier review the results and give some insight into the December 2020 Ag Economy Barometer survey, a nationwide monthly survey of 400 ag producers, on this episode of the Purdue Commercial AgCast. The full report is available at https://purdue.ag/agbarometer.