With Harvest at Hand, Farmers’ Coronavirus Thoughts turn to Marketing
By Chuck Abbott, Successful Farming
Farmers and ranchers are increasingly focusing on market access for their crops and livestock as the coronavirus grips the world, said the Ag Economy Barometer on Tuesday. In a poll by Purdue University for the monthly gauge of farmer sentiment, 45% of producers said market access was the No. 1 concern “regarding your farm and the COVID-19 situation,” an 11-point increase from the previous month.
At the same time, fewer farmers said they worried about the financial impact of COVID-19 on their farms. One-third of producers chose “financial” as their top concern, a drop of 9 points. Until now, financial concerns were a close second to market access in the polling.
“Expectations for excellent crop yields this year combined with price rallies during August for most agricultural commodities” fueled a dramatic improvement in farmer confidence, said Purdue economists James Mintert and Michael Langemeier, who oversee the barometer. “Producers also indicated they were more optimistic about agricultural exports increasing than in recent months, perhaps as a result of recent news about additional export sales to China.” The current reading for the barometer of 144 was the highest since February, just before the coronavirus hit, and up by 33 points in one month.