Farmers Back Tariffs to Boost U.S. Ag Economy Long-Term

May 08, 2025
By Farms.com

Farmers Expect Strong Financial Performance in 2025

American farmers are showing strong support for the administration and efforts to restore fairness in global trade and open new markets for domestic producers.

According to the latest Purdue University-CME Group Ag Economy Barometer, 70% of farmers believe that administration tariffs will strengthen the agricultural economy in the long run.

Farmer sentiment improved in April, with increases in both current and future expectations. The Farm Capital Investment Index reached its highest level since May 2021.

This month, one out of four respondents said it was a good time to make large investments, nearly double the percentage of respondents who said it was a good time to invest when surveyed from May through October of last year.

Additionally, the Farm Financial Performance Index has been above 100 for four consecutive months, indicating that producers expect financial performance this year to match or slightly exceed last year’s levels.

Video: Learning to Wrench From Dad the Hard Way

Harvest is a week out and the farm picked this week to fall apart. The truck needs a battery, the barn curtain's got a problem, and the corn and beans are telling us we're out of time to get it all fixed.

So it's a full day of wrenching. Tork supervises while I get the truck back running, then we're out at the hog barn where one rusted up part has the whole curtain system hung up. Ladder work, cable work, and a little dad-and-son disagreement about the right way to do it. We close it out walking the fields, shelling beans and checking corn, because whether everything's fixed or not, harvest starts when harvest starts.

Chapters: 00:00 Everything breaks the week before harvest 01:00 Tork supervises while I fix the truck 12:30 Out to the barn to find the curtain problem 14:30 One rusty part hung up the whole curtain 20:00 Running the curtain cable from the ladder 24:00 Walking the beans and corn before harvest 26:30 Wrapping up

We're a 6th generation family farm in southeast Iowa showing the real ups and downs of pig farming and row crop farming. No script, just the work. Subscribe and follow along.

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