Missouri Farm Bureau wrapped up another great annual meeting in December, and this year’s theme focused on our organization being “Guided by Tradition.” One of those annual traditions is the Farmometer survey.
For nearly 30 years, annual meeting goers have had the opportunity to fill out the survey. By asking farm related questions each year, the survey has established trends that make it a true barometer of how our members feel about the state of agriculture.
The survey asks respondents how they would describe their operation, how they generally feel about the condition of their operation and agriculture in general. They’re given a list of ten challenges that face agriculture production and are asked to rank them. Finally (and to me, the most important question of all), they are asked if they would recommend that their children follow in their footsteps.
Those four questions provide a snapshot into the daily lives of farmers and ranchers throughout our agriculturally diverse state.
After back-to-back years of melancholy results, this year took a turn. Things are looking up.
Just shy of 40 percent of respondents stated that they were “more optimistic than a year ago” regarding their feelings towards the future of agriculture in our state, with 41 percent noting “no change” from 2022. That left less than 20 percent of Farm Bureau members feeling “more pessimistic” about the outlook. Not a bad start.
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