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Survey: farmers say it’s still not a great time to make on-farm investments

More than 70 percent of farmers surveyed say it’s a bad time for large investments in their operations, according to the latest Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer.

Jim Mintert is the survey’s principal investigator and director of Purdue’s Center for Commercial Agriculture.

“For those who said it was a bad time to make large investments, we asked them why do you feel that way,” he says. “The two responses overwhelmingly continue to be increasing prices for farm machinery and new construction and rising interest rates.”

Nearly 40 percent of respondents chose rising equipment and construction costs as the top reason for it being a poor time for large investments. Other reasons included rising interest rates at 33 percent, uncertainty about farm profitability at 10 percent, and tight farm machinery inventories at 5 percent.

Mintert says it’s important to note that the Farm Capital Investment Index measures sentiment about making large investments, not willingness to make the investments.

The Ag Economy Barometer is a monthly national survey of 400 U.S. agricultural producers.

Audio: Jim Mintert