Purdue Commercial AgCast

Lessons From the Delta continues — this time from the edge of a 120-acre on-farm reservoir.

In Part 7 of the Purdue Commercial AgCast mini-series, Chad Fiechter and Todd Kuethe visit a rice farm in Arkansas to understand how farmers are managing water, labor, and costs in ways that look very different from the Midwest.

What starts as a farm tour turns into a practical discussion about irrigation strategy, groundwater replacement, a...

Farmer sentiment improved in March—but the underlying pressures in the farm economy haven’t gone away.

In this episode of the Purdue Commercial AgCast, Joana Colussi and Michael Langemeier break down the March 2026 Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer. Despite rising input costs and global uncertainty tied to geopolitical conflict, farmer sentiment moved higher—driven in part by stronger crop prices and government payme...

Lessons From the Delta continues — this time from the perspective of farmers managing one of the most intensive production systems in U.S. agriculture.

In Episode 6 of the Purdue Commercial AgCast mini-series, Chad Fiechter and Todd Kuethe visit with Terry and Trent Dabs of LTD Farms near Stuttgart, Arkansas, to discuss what it takes to operate a rice-based farming system in the Mississippi Delta.

What emerges is a detailed look at...

Lessons From the Delta continues — this time with an unexpected conversation about farm robotics.

In Episode 5 of the Purdue Commercial AgCast mini-series, Chad Fiechter and Todd Kuethe meet Sarah Hinkley, CEO and co-founder of Barn Owl Precision Ag, during a chance stop at a farm in Arkansas.

What begins as a serendipitous encounter turns into a discussion about labor shortages, farm profitability, and how automation is being appl...

Lessons From the Delta continues — this time with a look at the research and infrastructure behind rice production.

In Episode 4 of the Purdue Commercial AgCast mini-series, Chad Fiechter and Todd Kuethe visit the Northeast Rice Research and Extension Center in Arkansas to understand how research, water management, and production systems come together in one of the most concentrated rice-growing regions in the United States.

Arkans...

Lessons From the Delta continues — this time focusing on how farmland moves from farmers to investors and back again.

In Episode 3 of the Purdue Commercial AgCast mini-series, Chad Fiechter and Todd Kuethe speak with Colson Tester of AcreTrader about how farmland investment platforms identify properties, evaluate land values, and structure investments for accredited investors.

While farmland has long attracted institutional capital...

In this episode of the Purdue Commercial AgCast, Joana Colussi and Michael Langemeier break down results from the February 2026 Purdue University–CME Group Ag Economy Barometer.

The overall barometer rose modestly to 116, driven by improved current conditions. However, the Index of Future Expectations slipped, reflecting continued caution among producers. Crop producers remain under financial pressure, while livestock producers—esp...

Lessons From the Delta continues — but this time, the focus shifts from fields to finance.

In Episode 2 of the Purdue Commercial AgCast mini-series, Chad Fiechter and Todd Kuethe sit down with Aaron Shew of Acres to explore how farmland is valued, how capital moves through the Delta, and why agricultural land markets are more complex than most producers realize.

Unlike residential real estate, there is no “Zestimate” for farmland. ...

Southern agriculture operates in a very different environment than the Midwest — different crops, different water management systems, different land structures, and different production risks. But there are powerful lessons for commercial grain producers everywhere.

In this episode of the Purdue Commercial AgCast, we launch a new mini-series: Lessons From the Delta. After traveling to Arkansas and the Mississippi Delta region, Chad...

Farmer sentiment dropped sharply to start 2026, reflecting growing economic concerns across U.S. agriculture. But beyond the headline decline in the Purdue/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer, this episode focuses on what the shift signals for farm financial stress, investment decisions, and risk management in the year ahead.

In this Purdue Commercial AgCast episode, Michael Langemeier reviews the January survey results and explains the...

Are autonomous tractors and farm automation actually cost-effective? In this episode of the Purdue Commercial AgCast, Chad Fiechter and Josh Strine discuss new research on the economics of large-scale autonomous farm machinery and what it means for machinery investment and labor strategy on commercial corn and soybean farms. The results show that under today’s performance and cost levels, most farms aren’t yet in the economic “ball...

Adaptability and strong relationships are becoming just as important as yields and costs in today’s farm economy—and that’s the focus of this episode of the Purdue Commercial AgCast. Chad Fiechter is joined by Ben Brown of the University of Missouri’s Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI), along with guest hosts, graduate students Avery Pound and Jonah Armstrong, for a conversation that builds on Brown’s recent pr...

Farmer sentiment dipped slightly in December, with the Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer dropping 3 points to 136. The decline was attributable to a softening in producers’ long-term outlook. The Future Expectations Index fell 4 points from the previous month to 140, while the Current Conditions Index remained steady at 128. Crop producers expressed increased concern about the competitiveness of U.S. soybean exports ...

Chad Fiechter and Todd Kuethe reflect on their conversations this past year and talk about future plans. They cover past discussions with notable guests, including Nate Kauffman from the Federal Reserve, Matt Erickson from the Senate, Joe Balagtas from the White House, ag investing consultant Joe Suttles, and Indian hog farmer Brian Martin. Todd shares his upcoming sabbatical plans to teach economies on the Semester at Sea program,...

November brought the highest farmer sentiment reading since June, with the Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer jumping 10 points from October to 139. The increase was driven primarily by producers’ more optimistic outlook for the future, as the Future Expectations Index climbed 15 points to 144, while the Current Conditions Index dipped 2 points to 128. November’s survey is the first conducted after the late-October an...

Brian Martin, a fifth-generation pig farmer from Indiana, joins hosts Todd Kuethe and Chad Fiechter in this episode of Purdue Commercial AgCast. Martin shares his extensive experience in raising swine across the country, his involvement with the Indiana Pork Producers Association, and the vital role of internships and diverse experiences in agriculture. He also shares insight into the evolution of the hog industry, the complexities...

U.S. farmer sentiment edged slightly higher in October, with the Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer rising 3 points to a reading of 129. The increase was fueled primarily by a rise in the Index of Current Conditions, which climbed 8 points to 130, while the Index of Future Expectations was virtually unchanged at 129, just 1 point higher than in September. Farmers’ appraisals of current conditions highlight a “tale of ...

Joe Balagtas, a former senior economist at the White House's Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) and professor of agricultural economics at Purdue joins colleague hosts Todd Kuethe and Chad Fiechter in this episode of the Purdue Commercial AgCast. Balagtas shares his unique experiences working at the CEA during the Trump administration and his role in providing the President with critical economic information. He provides a behind-t...

Farmer sentiment held steady in September, as the Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer rose just 1 point to a reading of 126. However, there was a shift in producers’ perceptions of current conditions and their expectations for the future. The Index of Current Conditions fell 7 points to 122, while the Index of Future Expectations climbed 5 points to 128. The survey was conducted following the U.S. Department of Agricul...