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Producer sentiment improves despite covid-19
Producer sentiment improved again in June, but the Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer is still well below where it was before the coronavirus pandemic.
The latest barometer rose 14 points to 117, 51 points below the February reading.
Jim Mintert, director of the Purdue Center for
Commercial Agriculture, says the planting season and coronavirus assistance
helped improve sentiment.
“Relative to last year, we had a much more normal spring planting season, coupled with the fact that by the time we did the survey in June the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program was available,” he says.
He tells Brownfield producers surveyed are slightly less
concerned about the impact of the coronavirus on their farm’s profitability.
“In March, 40 percent of the farmers in our survey said they were very worried,” he says. “That number declined to 27 percent on the June survey.”
Farmers were also asked about how the pandemic is
changing business practices.
“Forty-one percent of people in our survey said they’ve increased the amount of business they conduct online and 53 percent said they were less likely to attend in-person field days, workshops, or educational programs during the remainder of 2020,” he says.
The monthly survey of 400 agricultural producers was conducted June 22-26.
Audio: Jim Mintert
