OMAHA (DTN) -- Overall farmer sentiment in June fell to the lowest point since President Donald Trump took office, according to the latest Purdue University-CME Group Ag Economy Barometer Index.

Farmer sentiment, the Index of Current Conditions, dropped by 5 points in June to 113 points, and reached the lowest level since December 2024, while the Index of Future Expectations fell by 7 points to 118 points.

The Index of Current Conditions has been slipping since it hit 127 points in March -- which coincided with both the start of spring planting season and $11 billion in Farmer Bridge Assistance (FBA) payments issued by the Trump administration to crop farmers.

The June barometer survey included 400 farmers from across the country from June 15-19. That was before Trump also submitted an appropriations request to Congress seeking an additional $11.1 billion in economic aid to crop farmers and specialty crop growers.

Only 12% of farmers polled in the survey indicated their farm operations were better off in June than a year ago. Looking ahead, 22% of respondents expect their farms to be in a better position financially this time next year.

The percentage of farmers who expect "good times over the next five years" was 31% in June, which is 17 percentage points lower than in June 2025. Crop producers are more pessimistic with just 25% expecting good times ahead while livestock producers are at 68%.

The barometer shows 47% of farmers who responded list high input costs as their biggest concern, followed by 23% of farmers saying low crop and livestock prices are their biggest concern.

As DTN's Fertilizer Trends tracks, prices for eight major fertilizers have begun to decline, but are higher than they were a year ago and higher than before the conflict began with Iran at the end of February. For instance, 1 ton of anhydrous ammonia last week was nearly 40% higher than it was the same week last year.

Trump administration officials have been pressing different levers to help lower fertilizer prices, which includes announcing $500 million last week to expand domestic fertilizer production.

In a separate question, 42% of farmers indicated high input costs are limiting improvements to their financial position this year. Another 17% of farmers again said low prices are their biggest limit to improving their situation. That was followed by weather risk at 14%, policy uncertainty at 11%, labor and equipment concerns at 9% and debt or financial pressure at 8%.

Farmers polled by Purdue remain strong backers of free trade. Nearly 85% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, "Free trade benefits agriculture and most other American industries." Roughly 43% of farmers expect exports to increase over the next five years, but that percentage is still lower than other barometer numbers over the past year. Only 9% of farmers expect agricultural exports will decline over that time.

Asked about artificial intelligence or data-driven tools, a majority of farmers surveyed, 52%, also responded they see no meaningful benefits to their operations from that technology. Another 23% see the prospect of increasing production while 14% see AI as a tool to reduce labor. Another 11% of farmers see the technology as helping to reduce risk or uncertainty in their operations.

Just over half of the farmers surveyed, 53%, would agree "things in the U.S. today are generally heading in the right direction." That is up from 52% in May, but farmer optimism about the country's direction is down from 74% a year ago, and 75% last December.

See, "Urea, UAN Fertilizers Lead Majority of Fertilizer Prices Lower," https://www.dtnpf.com/….

Also see, "USDA Redirects $500 Million to Expand Domestic Fertilizer Capacity,"

https://www.dtnpf.com/….

Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com

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