WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. and
CHICAGO, Sept. 1, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- There was a big
improvement in farmer sentiment in August, according to the
Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy
Barometer. The index rose to a reading of 144, up 26 points from
July. The Ag Economy Barometer is based on survey responses
from 400 U.S. agricultural producers and was conducted between
August 17-21, 2020.
Both of the barometers sub-indices also recorded substantial
increases. The Index of Current Conditions improved to a
reading of 124, up 13 points from July, while the Index of
Future Expectations improved to a reading of 154, up 33
points.
Increases in the barometer and its two sub-indices marked the
most positive readings since February
2020 when record highs were established and before the
pandemic began. The improvement in sentiment was also underpinned
by expectations for excellent crop yields, as reported in the
USDA's August Crop Production report, and rallies in key
agriculture commodity prices that took place this month.
"This month marked a considerable increase in farmer sentiment,"
said James Mintert, the barometer's
principal investigator and director of Purdue
University's Center for Commercial Agriculture. "With a
positive crop production outlook, rebounding commodity prices, and
news of additional export sales to China, producers were much more optimistic
about the future for the U.S. agricultural economy."
Farmers were more optimistic about U.S. agriculture's trade
prospects compared to the past several months. In August, 67
percent of producers said they expect exports to rise over the next
five years, compared to just 57 percent who felt the same way
during the spring and summer months of 2020. Mintert attributed
this change in perspective in part to rising export sales to
China that began over the summer
and now appear likely to continue into fall.
Farmers' perspectives toward land values also improved in
August. Those expecting land values to increase over the next 12
months rose to 20 percent in August, up from 16 percent in July and
7 percent back in April. The percentage of producers expecting
values to increase in the next five years rose to 59 percent, up
from 48 percent in July and just 40 percent who expected higher
values back in May.
Each summer survey respondents are asked their opinion regarding
changes in farmers' equity position over the upcoming year. The
percentage of respondents in the August
2020 survey who expect equity to decline in the upcoming 12
months was 38 percent. This marked the second lowest percentage
since the survey question was first asked in 2016 and was well
below a year earlier when 48 percent of respondents said they
expected farmers' equity to decline.
Read the full Ag Economy Barometer report at
https://purdue.ag/agbarometer. This month's report includes insight
into farmers' intentions towards investing in farm machinery in the
coming year and their thoughts on attending virtual events like
field days and conferences this fall and winter. 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.
CME-G
Writer: Kami Goodwin,
765-494-6999, kami@purdue.edu
Source: James Mintert, 765-494-7004,
jmintert@purdue.edu
Media Contacts:
Aissa Good, Purdue University, 765-496-3884,
aissa@purdue.edu
Dana Schmidt, CME Group,
312-872-5443, dana.schmidt@cmegroup.com
Related websites:
Purdue University Center for Commercial
Agriculture: http://purdue.edu/commercialag
CME Group: http://www.cmegroup.com/
Photo Caption: Farmer sentiment rebounds as commodity prices
rally and agriculture trade prospects improve
(Purdue/CME Group Ag Economy
Barometer/James Mintert)
A publication-quality photo is available at
https://www.purdue.edu/uns/images/2020/mintert-augustbarometerLO.jpg.
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SOURCE CME Group