Higher corn and soybean prices were not enough to lift the mood of American farmers in September, when rising input costs weighed most on their minds, according to the monthly Ag Economy Barometer compiled by Purdue University and CME Group from a survey of 400 farmers.
The barometer index fell from 135 points in August to 123 in September, and the Farm Financial Performance Index dropped from 103 to 90. Just 48% of farmers said the United States was heading in the right direction, the lowest share since Purdue and CME Group began asking the question in July 2025.
Higher input costs were the biggest concern for 52% of respondents, and 54% named them as the main factor holding back their farm's finances. Better prices for corn and soybeans have offered some relief against those costs.
The September survey also asked about competition from Brazil. Concern has eased slightly: 80.2% of corn and soybean farmers said they were concerned or very concerned about US soybeans competing with Brazilian beans, compared with 84% in the December 2025 survey. More than a third (37%) of corn and soybean growers expect exports to increase over the next five years, while 10% expect them to fall.
On conservation practice, 46% of corn and soybean producers said they currently plant a cover crop and another 22% said they had done so in the past. Nearly a third have planted cover crops for more than ten years, and 15% plant them on most of their farmland.
For agribusinesses that sell seed, fertiliser, chemicals and machinery, the barometer is an early signal of how willing farmers will be to spend going into the next season.
Photo: Huw Williams (Huwmanbeing) / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Source: AgNavigator
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