Farmer Outlook Improves from Last Month, Markedly Lower than Last Year

Overall U.S. farmer outlook has improved in the latest Ag Economy Barometer reading for August. However, farmer sentiment remains much lower than a year ago at this time. Major concerns remain for most growers related to rising input costs. Of the survey respondents, more than half (53%) reported their biggest concern is over inflation, but also rising interest rates (14%) and input availability (12%). Lower output prices are also on the radar with 11% of respondents logging this concern.

Both corn and soybean prices rallied from new July lows for the year through mid-August, contributing to the bump in producer sentiment in tandem with expectations for good yields in some areas. The survey also indicated a slight rise in the number of farmers in talks with companies offering payments for sequestering carbon, but only 1% of survey respondents said they’ve signed a carbon contract. The survey interviews 40 U.S. commodity growers each month via telephone.

Read more on the farmer sentiments here.