Nearly 600 farmers weighed in on the Canadian Farmer Sentiment Index in July, marking the sixth time farmers from the Insights Panel have answered questions on the financial health of the farm, confidence in marketing, whether it’s a good time to invest in the farm, and farmers’ mental health.
Modelled after the Purdue Ag Economy Barometer, the Canadian Farmer Sentiment Index launched in September 2022, and every two months farmers are asked the same questions in the same way in order to develop an index — either positive or negative — on how they feel about certain aspects of the current and future farm economy.
To dig in to the findings, co-founders of RealAgristudies Shaun Haney and Justin Funk run through the most recent sentiment index numbers (check out the video below, or download the podcast for later).
For July, farmers are certainly changing how they see the farm’s future performance (negative, but up slightly), the general ag economy (downward trend), and mental health is only slightly down, year-over-year.
Farmers are somewhat unsure in their marketing ability at this time, but where farmers are much more positive is on where they see prices going.
Over the course of the past year, farmers have gone from being ready to sell, sell, sell, to a hold steady strategy.
Now, as we approach the harvest season, farmers are feeling quite confident that prices are headed higher.
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