Producer optimism about the future wanes in September report

Producers’ optimism about the future of the agricultural economy fell in September, according to the Index of Future Expectations, a sub-index of the Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer. The overall barometer held steady from August to September with a reading of 132 as its two sub-indices – the Index of Future Expectations and the Index of Current Conditions – shifted in opposite directions. The Index of Future Expectations fell seven points to 130 in September, while the Index of Current Conditions climbed from 122 in August to 135 in September. The Ag Economy Barometer is based on a monthly survey of 400 U.S. agricultural producers.“Although the decline in the Index of Future Expectations was modest, it could be an indication that some of the optimism that surfaced among producers in late 2016 and early 2017 is eroding,” said Jim Mintert, director of Purdue’s Center for Commercial Agriculture and principal investigator for the barometer. “One of the drivers of the jump in producer sentiment after the 2016 U.S. presidential election was a sharp increase in expectations about the U.S. economy. But the last two times the barometer survey has posed questions about the overall economy, respondents were noticeably less optimistic.”