October Purdue/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer

The Purdue/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer October results were released and, producers were pesimeistic about the agricultural economy's prospects over the next 12 months. The share of respondents reporting that they expect bad times financially over the next 12 months rose to 79 percent in October, an increase of 11 percentage points from the September survey and 16 percentage points from October 2015. The change in perspective from October 2015 to October 2016 suggests farm financial conditions have weakened considerably since fall 2015. The livestock sector was upbeat about future economic conditions, although the gap between expectations for good times in crops versus livestock has narrowed appreciably since late 2015 and speaking of skeptical outlooks some analyst are critizing Target's plans to start testing vertical farms in stores. Business Insider reported that the retailer is looking to implement the technology as early as spring 2017. Kurt Jetta, founder and CEO of TABS Analytics, shared his reason for negativity by saying in an email that "Target struggles with just basic produce sales before getting all exotic with vertical farming