A new poll of Iowa farmers finds less optimism about the financial picture of agriculture this year.
The Agri-Pulse Farm Opinion Poll, launched last month in partnership with the Iowa Soybean Association (ISA), found that farmers expect to see weaker financial returns in 2014 and will adjust their expenditures – spending less on fertilizer and equipment but more on crop insurance.
Nearly 80 percent expect their 2014 farm financial outlook to worsen – 47 percent expect it to worsen “slightly” while 32 percent expect it to worsen “a great deal.” Poll respondents said they also expect the value of their farmland to drop this year, with 75 percent expecting values to decrease.
Eighty-seven percent of the farmers’ surveyed plan to either purchase more or continue about the same level of crop insurance as last year. The majority view crop insurance as the most important Farm Bill “tool” for maintaining their profitability this year.
The importance of crop insurance came through when farmers were asked what aspect of the Agricultural Act of 2014 will be most important in helping their financial situation this year. More than 62 percent chose crop insurance as more important to their operations than other aspects of the just-passed Farm Bill.
The poll was taken Feb. 23 with more than 130 Iowa farmers responding to the unaided 12-question poll.