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Mar. 25, 2013 Source: DTN/The Progressive Farmer news release The U.S. agriculture and agribusiness industries are looking to the future for signs of renewed confidence after continued residual drought conditions in the fields and volatility in the markets. DTN/The Progressive Farmer conducted its quarterly Agriculture and Agribusiness Confidence Indexes, designed to measure sentiment in the agriculture sector - both for producers and agribusinesses and the results are in. The composite Agriculture Confidence Index, which accounts for how farmers feel about both their present and future situations, came in at 106.9. A value of 100 is considered neutral; higher numerical values indicate optimism and values lower than 100 indicate pessimism. When the composite is split into separate time frames, farmer responses created a rating of 135.3 for the present, compared to 88.2 rating for future expectations. Those numbers show farmers' attitudes changed over the course of the last year. Overall optimism has only slightly dipped from both March and December 2012 ratings of 109, while expectations for the present have slightly dipped, starting with March 2012 at 140 and December 2012 at 137. Interestingly enough, the future expectations seem to vary according to season - March 2012 rested at an all-time low of 87 and December 2012 rose a bit to 91.
Agribusiness owners have taken a more slightly larger pessimistic view, but are looking to the future with higher hopes. According to the February DTN/The Progressive Farmer Agribusiness Confidence Index, the agribusiness composite index is 104.3 - business owners gave their current situation an optimistic 112.7 rating, with expectations for the future scoring 98.5.
To compile the index, DTN contacted 500 randomly selected producers as well as owners or managers of 100 agribusinesses -- including elevators, Ag retailers, livestock companies, food product manufacturers, Ag services, bankers, cotton buyers and seed companies - across 26 states. They were asked about current and future profitability and overall business prospects for the next 12 months. Click here for the complete Agriculture Confidence Index results (focusing on producers) and click here for the complete Agribusiness Confidence Index results, as well as a short summary of the survey and its findings. Tweet |
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