American farmers confidence about the direction of the agricultural economy has reached an historic low.
That's based on the results of the latest DTN/The Progressive Farmer Agriculture Confidence Index.
Overall producer confidence was 103 point 5 in the last survey in December.
It's now down to 98 point 8.
Values above 100 indicate optimism, below 100 signify pessimism.
DTN spokesperson Katie Micik says it's the second time in the last three surveys that producer confidence levels were pessimistic.
A year ago, U-S producer confidence stood at 106 point 9.
In August, it dropped to 99 point 8 - the first pessimistic rating since the survey began in 2010.
Micik says livestock producer confidence fell to 99 point 2 from 106 point 4 in December.
Crop producer confidence dropped from 101 point 9 to 98 point 4.
According to DTN, crop farmers are worried about stagnant or falling commodity prices and increased crop production and input costs.
American livestock producers are worried about the prospects of lower price because of beef, pork and poultry production expansion.
