Farmer Sentiment Reaches Highest Level Since 2021

Jun 06, 2025

By Ryan Hanrahan

Bloomberg’s Michael Hirtzer, Erin Ailworth, and Skylar Woodhouse reported Tuesday that “American farmer sentiment jumped to a four-year high, with growers betting on rising crop exports as the Trump administration pushes for more trade deals from Vietnam to Italy.”

“US President Donald Trump has pushed an America-first agenda that has hit crop exports. Top commodities buyer China currently has no sales on the books for US corn, soybeans or wheat to be shipped next season,” Hirtzer, Ailworth and Woodhouse reported. “Still, farmers are more optimistic, according to Purdue University and CME Group’s Ag Economy Barometer, which surveyed some 400 producers between May 12-16, just after the Trump administration announced ‘substantial progress’ toward a trade deal with China. The index hit a reading of 158, the highest since 2021.”

“A ‘skyrocketing’ number of farmers expect increased agricultural exports over the next five years, according to the survey. However, only 28% strongly agree that ‘free trade benefits agriculture and most other American industries’ — down from 49% of farmers who agreed with the statement when it was first posed back in November 2020,” Hirtzer, Ailworth and Woodhouse reported. “The results ‘provide additional evidence that producers’ views on trade have shifted,’ according to the barometer.”

Source : illinois.edu

Video: New research chair appointed to accelerate crop variety development

Funded by Sask Wheat, the Wheat Pre-Breeding Chair position was established to enhance cereal research breeding and training activities in the USask Crop Development Centre (CDC) by accelerating variety development through applied genomics and pre-breeding strategies.

“As the research chair, Dr. Valentyna Klymiuk will design and deploy leading-edge strategies and technologies to assess genetic diversity for delivery into new crop varieties that will benefit Saskatchewan producers and the agricultural industry,” said Dr. Angela Bedard-Haughn (PhD), dean of the College of Agriculture and Bioresources at USask. “We are grateful to Sask Wheat for investing in USask research as we work to develop the innovative products that strengthen global food security.”

With a primary focus on wheat, Klymiuk’s research will connect discovery research, gene bank exploration, genomics, and breeding to translate gene discovery into improved varieties for Saskatchewan’s growing conditions.