Producers surveyed around the country are feeling slightly less optimistic about their 2024 economic outlook.
The monthly Ag Economy Barometer from Purdue University and the CME Group showed a roughly 7% monthly decline in its score of farmer sentiment in January. Many producers are pointing to different factors than they were a year ago.
In a question about the “biggest concerns for your farming operation,” 28% of the survey’s 400 respondents pointed to lower commodity prices, up from 16% last year. That figure tied for the largest factor; higher input costs were also singled out by 28% of producers, much lower than the 42% that mentioned it in early 2023.
In a release, Purdue’s Jim Mintert said the number of producers signaling their concern about falling prices and lower farm income “significantly influenced the decline across all indices.”
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“For the first time, the percentage of producers choosing lower commodity prices as a top concern matched the percentage of producers who chose higher input costs,” Mintert said. “This alignment indicates that U.S. farmers are worried about a possible cost/price squeeze leading to lower farm incomes.”
Fewer producers are expecting to need a larger line of capital this year — 15% compared to 22% who reported that feeling last year — and 72% expect their operating loan to be about the same size.
The survey was conducted Jan. 15-19, just after USDA released a pair of reports that pulled commodity prices lower due to revised increases to 2023 corn and soybean yields.
USDA is scheduled to release its first farm income projections of 2024 on Wednesday.
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