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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsIn Purdue’s August 2025 Ag Economy Barometer survey, 67% of respondents expected “widespread good times” for livestock producers over the next five years, compared with 24% for crop producers. The finding reflects respondents’ views of each sector—not a direct measure of every farm’s finances—and Purdue’s comparison is specific to that 2025 survey, not a current 2026 crop-versus-livestock reading.
What the August 2025 survey found
Purdue University’s Center for Commercial Agriculture published its subgroup analysis on October 6, 2025. Respondents were far more optimistic about the livestock sector’s prospects over the coming five years than about crop producers’ prospects:
| Question asked about the sector | Respondents expecting widespread good times |
|---|---|
| Livestock producers over the next five years | 67% |
| Crop producers over the next five years | 24% |
These percentages answer a question about expected conditions for producers in each sector. They do not mean that 67% of livestock farms were profitable, or that only 24% of crop farms were. The survey asked respondents to assess the outlook for crop and livestock producers separately.
How Purdue defined the farm groups
The Ag Economy Barometer is a monthly Purdue University and CME Group measure based on a nationwide survey of agricultural producers. It tracks views of current conditions and future expectations, including issues such as farm profitability, farmland values, commodity prices and input prices. Purdue’s About the Barometer page describes the measure and its scope.
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For the August 2025 subgroup analysis, respondents were classified by the share of farm revenue coming from livestock. The comparison included 260 farms deriving less than half their revenue from livestock and 141 deriving more than half. The latter should not be read as “all livestock farms”: it is a revenue-share category, not a complete census of livestock operations.
What the farm-type index adds
The overall August 2025 Ag Economy Barometer index was 125. Its Index of Current Conditions was 129, and its Index of Future Expectations was 123. In Purdue’s farm-type comparison, the index for farms deriving more than 50% of revenue from livestock was 153—43 points above the crop-farm index. Purdue reported that the gap between groups was wider for current conditions than for future expectations.
Rank #2
The index summarizes survey sentiment; it is not a profit margin or a forecast of a particular farm’s income. Purdue reports the group difference but does not provide subgroup confidence intervals or a statistical-significance test in the published summary. The gap should therefore be described as a reported survey result, not as proof that farm type caused the difference.
Financial pressure and operating-loan expectations
Purdue also reported that crop producers more often expected to need larger operating loans in 2026. Some respondents cited unpaid operator debt from the prior year as a reason. The analysis estimated a financial-stress proxy of 4.9% overall and 6.5% for crop farms; the crop-farm estimate was almost three times the livestock-farm estimate.
Rank #3
Purdue cautioned that its proxy used a different method from the 4%–6% financial-stress range cited from earlier work. These figures are not directly comparable as a time series, and the proxy should not be treated as a universal measure of financial distress among farms.
Why sentiment differed
The report’s authors linked the contrast to the substantial gap in prices received and projected net-return prospects at the time of the survey. That is their interpretation of conditions in August 2025, not evidence that livestock operations are always stronger financially or that every crop farm was under greater strain. Farm results vary with the commodities produced, costs, debt, location and other circumstances.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to read the figures alongside newer data
The crop-versus-livestock findings above are from August 2025. A newer aggregate result does not update that subgroup comparison. In its October 6, 2026 release, CME Group reported that the overall Barometer index fell to 123 in September from 135 in August 2026; the Current Conditions Index declined 18 points and Future Expectations fell 9 points. A record 52% of respondents named higher input costs as their top concern. Those figures describe overall sentiment, not the 2025 comparison by farm revenue mix. CME Group’s Ag Economy Barometer release covers the September 14–18, 2026 survey of 400 farmers.
Michael Langemeier, the Barometer’s principal investigator and director of Purdue’s Center for Commercial Agriculture, said of those September 2026 results: “Producer sentiment this month reflects a growing divide between concerns about the near term and expectations for the longer term.” That comment concerns the 2026 survey, not the August 2025 farm-type analysis.
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