WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. and
CHICAGO, Aug. 4, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Farmer
sentiment was virtually unchanged in July in comparison to a month
earlier, according to the Purdue
University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer. The index rose
just one point from June to a reading of 118, still 30 percent
lower than in February before the pandemic began. The Ag Economy
Barometer is based on responses from 400 U.S. agricultural
producers. This month's survey was conducted from July 20-24.
Although there was little change in the July barometer,
producers' perspective on current versus future conditions shifted.
The Index of Current Conditions rose 12 points from June to
a reading of 111, and the Index of Future Expectations fell
five points to a reading of 121. Unchanged from June but nine
points lower than in May, 56 percent of producers reported they
plan to reduce their farm machinery purchases compared to a year
ago. Thirty-eight percent of producers reported they plan to keep
machinery purchases about the same as last year, which was also
unchanged from June but seven points higher than in May. The
Farm Capital Investment Index was also unchanged from June
standing at a reading of 60, but noticeably stronger than May's
index reading of 50.
"Although overall farmer sentiment in July did not change much
compared to June, sentiment was still much weaker than in February
before the impact of coronavirus hit," said James Mintert, the barometer's principal
investigator and director of Purdue
University's Center for Commercial Agriculture. "In July,
farmers indicated they were a bit less concerned about the current
economic situation on their farms than earlier this spring, but
they are less optimistic about the future, perhaps as a result of
the recent resurgence in COVID-19 cases. Still, two-thirds of
producers responding to this month's survey said they believe
Congress should provide additional economic assistance to farmers
in 2020 to help offset the pandemic's impact on agriculture."
Over half of farmers responding to the July survey said they
were less likely to attend in-person educational events in 2020 as
a result of COVID-19 concerns. When asked what their top
information source would be in lieu of attending in-person events,
36 percent chose farm magazines, 19 percent chose online webinars,
17 percent chose farm radio and 17 percent chose websites. Direct
emails and podcasts were far less popular as a top information
source with just eight and three percent of producers choosing
these options, respectively.
When asked about their short-term outlook for land values,
farmers' perspective improved with 16 percent saying they expect
farmland values to rise over the next 12 months compared to ten
percent back in June. However, when asked about farmland values in
five years, farmers were somewhat less optimistic than they were in
June, with 48 percent saying they expect values to rise over the
next five years compared to 55 percent in the previous survey.
Read the full Ag Economy Barometer report at
https://purdue.ag/agbarometer. This month's report includes insight
into how farmers are conducting business as a result of COVID-19
and producers' use of marketing advisors to manage risk. The site
also offers additional resources – such as past reports, charts and
survey methodology – and a form to sign up for monthly barometer
email updates and webinars. Each month, the Purdue Center for
Commercial Agriculture provides a short video analysis of the
barometer results, available at https://purdue.ag/barometervideo,
and for even more information, check out the Purdue Commercial
AgCast podcast. It includes a detailed breakdown of each
month's barometer, in addition to a discussion of recent
agricultural news that impacts farmers. Available now at
https://purdue.ag/agcast.
The Ag Economy Barometer, Index of Current Conditions and Index
of Future Expectations are available on the Bloomberg Terminal
under the following ticker symbols: AGECBARO, AGECCURC and
AGECFTEX.
About the Purdue University
Center for Commercial Agriculture
The Center for Commercial
Agriculture was founded in 2011 to provide professional development
and educational programs for farmers. Housed within Purdue University's Department of Agricultural
Economics, the center's faculty and staff develop and execute
research and educational programs that address the different needs
of managing in today's business environment.
About CME Group
As the world's leading and most
diverse derivatives marketplace, CME Group (www.cmegroup.com)
enables clients to trade futures, options, cash and OTC markets,
optimize portfolios, and analyze data – empowering market
participants worldwide to efficiently manage risk and capture
opportunities. CME Group exchanges offer the widest range of global
benchmark products across all major asset classes based
on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign
exchange, energy, agricultural
products and metals. The company offers futures and
options on futures trading through the CME Globex® platform, fixed
income trading via BrokerTec and foreign exchange trading on the
EBS platform. In addition, it operates one of the world's leading
central counterparty clearing providers, CME Clearing. With a range
of pre- and post-trade products and services underpinning the
entire lifecycle of a trade, CME Group also offers optimization and
reconciliation services through TriOptima, and trade processing
services through Traiana.
CME Group, the Globe logo, CME, Chicago Mercantile Exchange,
Globex, and E-mini are trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange
Inc. CBOT and Chicago Board
of Trade are trademarks of Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc. NYMEX, New York
Mercantile Exchange and ClearPort are trademarks of New York
Mercantile Exchange, Inc. COMEX is a trademark of Commodity
Exchange, Inc. BrokerTec, EBS, TriOptima, and Traiana are
trademarks of BrokerTec Europe LTD, EBS Group LTD, TriOptima AB,
and Traiana, Inc., respectively. Dow Jones, Dow Jones
Industrial Average, S&P 500, and S&P are service and/or
trademarks of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC, Standard &
Poor's Financial Services LLC and S&P/Dow Jones Indices LLC, as
the case may be, and have been licensed for use by Chicago
Mercantile Exchange Inc. All other trademarks are the property
of their respective owners.
Writer: Torrie Sheridan,
765-496-6032, ward121@purdue.edu
Source: James Mintert, 765-494-7004,
jmintert@purdue.edu
Related websites:
Purdue University Center for Commercial
Agriculture: http://purdue.edu/commercialag
CME Group: http://www.cmegroup.com/
Photo Caption: Ag Economy Barometer stable, but farmers less
optimistic about future. (Purdue/CME
Group Ag Economy Barometer/James
Mintert)
A publication-quality photo is available at
https://www.purdue.edu/uns/images/2020/mintert-julybarometer.jpg.
CME-G
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SOURCE CME Group