Farmer sentiment dipped in the December Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer. Michael Langemeier, director of the Center for Commercial Agriculture at Purdue University, said one of last month’s topics included soybean competition between Brazil and the U.S.
“How concerned are you about the competitiveness of U.S. soybean exports with Brazil’s exports? And so, just a direct question on how competitive they think the U.S. is compared to soybeans, and 45 percent were very concerned, and 40 percent were concerned. And so, there’s a lot of concern about Brazilian soybeans in terms of the increase in acreage, the increase in yields, and their essential dominance, in many cases, when it comes to certain export markets, and so there’s a lot of concern related to Brazil.”
The Barometer included a question on tariffs and whether using them would improve the U.S. ag economy. It appears the answer has changed over the past several months.
“When we asked that question a little earlier in ’25, as many as 60 percent thought that actually the trade negotiations and the tariffs were going to improve the outlook for U.S. agriculture in the long term. That dropped to 54 percent in December, and so it’s still a majority of the respondents, but it is lower than it was earlier in 2025. However, when we asked the question, do you think the U.S. is heading in the right direction? That remained at about 70 percent saying affirmatively that the U.S. is moving in the right direction. And those particular questions, I think, you tie those back to the Index of Future Expectations. It keeps that Index of Future Expectations higher than what it would be otherwise.”