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Economist says farmers are optimistic about farmland values

An ag economist says farmers surveyed in the recent Purdue/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer are optimistic about the future trend of farmland values.

Purdue University’s David Widmar says 19 percent of farmers surveyed expect farmland values to increase and 30 percent expect values to decline in the next 12 months.  “That’s actually the second most optimistic reading that we’ve seen,” he says.  “It’s up from February and November (it is surveyed quarterly).  In fact you have to go back to last July to find a larger group of producers thinking higher values for farmland is possible a year out.”

He tells Brownfield for the first time the Barometer surveyed farmers about their expectations for farmland values in the next 5 years.  “Eight out of ten farmers think their farmland will be worth about the same or more if five years,” he says.  “That’s a pretty important underpinning to the ag economy and a pretty strong measure of how producers feel optimism about the economy and a big tore of their wealth.”

Widmar says despite the turbulent ag economy, farmers have still had a long-term optimism about the state of the industry.

AUDIO: David Widmar, Purdue University