What We’ve Learned From the Ag Economy Barometer

Farmer sentiment improved again in August, but the details behind the increase are more interesting than the headline. The Purdue/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer rose 9 points to 135, marking its second consecutive monthly increase. The key driver was future expectations.

Farmers in the United States and Argentina are facing many of the same pressures, but their outlook for the future is strikingly different. A new comparison of the two countries’ producer sentiment surveys finds a particularly wide gap in expectations for the crop sector and points to differences in farm income, policy and financial conditions that may help explain why.