Key Takeaways
- Wikifarmer's Voice of the Farmer 2026 survey gathered responses from 10,234 farmers across 158 countries between November 2025 and March 2026, making it the largest international farmer survey conducted to date.
- 51.1% of respondents said they do not receive fair prices for their produce, and 45.1% reported lower net income than the previous year, with income declines steepest in Europe (55.7%).
- 83.0% of farmers reported losing part of this year's production to weather or pests, with drought identified as the most damaging climate hazard.
- 63.4% of farmers rated their government's support at the bottom of a five-point scale, with discontent spanning very different countries including Cameroon, Greece, Poland, and Peru.
- Farmers who sold directly to customers online were 35% less likely to report an income decline — the strongest protective factor identified in the survey's statistical model.
Wikifarmer Voice of the Farmer 2026 Survey Reveals Widespread Income Pressure
A new survey from agricultural knowledge platform Wikifarmer has found that half of participating farmers do not believe they are paid fairly for what they produce, while nearly one in four report a sharp drop in income over the past year. The Voice of the Farmer 2026 survey collected responses from 10,234 farmers in 158 countries between November 2025 and March 2026, asking about pricing, income, climate-related losses, government support, and the toll of farming on their wellbeing.
Pricing Dissatisfaction and Falling Incomes Reported By Wikifarmer
Among farmers who answered the pricing question, 51.1% said they do not receive fair prices for their produce. Income trends followed a similar pattern: 45.1% reported that their net income this year was worse than the year before, including 24.1% who described it as “much worse” — more than two and a half times the share who said their income was much better (9.4%).
The decline was most pronounced in Europe, where 55.7% of farmers reported lower incomes, more than double the rate recorded in Oceania (27.1%). South Asia (44.1%) and Africa (43.4%) followed. Nearly half of all respondents (47.5%) rated their own financial security at the lowest point on a five-point scale.
Climate and Pest Losses Reported as Nearly Universal
Climate-related production losses were widespread: 83.0% of respondents said they lost part of this year's production to weather or pests, and one in four (25.2%) reported losing more than a quarter of their output. Drought emerged as the most damaging hazard, with 37.4% of farmers exposed to it reporting severe losses, followed by heat, flooding, storms, and frost. The survey found that each additional climate hazard a farmer reported was associated with higher odds of an income decline.
Government Support Rated Poorly Across Very Different Countries
Farmers were sharply critical of state support: 63.4% rated their government's assistance a 1 or 2 on a five-point scale, with 47.7% giving the lowest possible score. The five lowest-rated countries — Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Greece, Poland, and Peru — span markedly different political and economic systems, yet reported strikingly similar levels of dissatisfaction. Wikifarmer‘s analysis found that government-support ratings tracked closely with farmers' financial reality: those rating support at the floor were about 34 percentage points more likely to also report poor financial security and unfair pricing.
Stress Peaks in Mid-Career, Eases After 60
The financial and environmental pressures extended to farmer wellbeing. More than one in five respondents (21.4%) selected the highest possible score on the survey's stress scale, and over a third (34.9%) rated themselves in the top two levels, producing an average stress score of 3.17 out of 5. Stress built through early adulthood, peaked among farmers aged 41 to 50 (41.8% reporting high stress), and eased somewhat after age 60.
Direct Online Selling Linked to Stronger Income Outcomes
One notable bright spot emerged from the data. After controlling for region, farm size, age, certification, and climate exposure, farmers who sold directly to customers online were 35% less likely to report an income decline — the strongest protective factor of any variable in the model. Selling at farmers' markets was also linked to better outcomes, with a 20% lower likelihood of income decline, though the online channel showed the largest effect.
The survey also challenged some common assumptions about agricultural vulnerability. Farmers in Africa and South Asia reported markedly higher rates of perceived fair pricing than those in Europe and Latin America — the strongest regional effect measured. Farm size produced an equally counterintuitive result: respondents operating 50 hectares or more reported substantially higher average stress levels than those farming less than one hectare, the largest group difference found in the dataset.
“This survey suggests the pressures reshaping agriculture are broader and more complex than many assume. Across regions and farm sizes, large numbers of farmers told us they do not feel fairly paid for what they produce. That should be the starting point for serious conversations about the future of food systems. Several widely held assumptions about vulnerability also did not hold in our data: larger farms in the sample often reported higher stress than smaller holdings, showing that pressure across agriculture is changing in ways the sector needs to understand better,” said Georgios Myrisis, lead researcher of the survey and agronomist and Library Content Editor at Wikifarmer.
Wikifarmer Survey Methodology and Respondent Profile
Respondents were predominantly full-time smallholders: 81.9% farmed full-time, and 54.5% worked five hectares or less. Africa was the largest single region represented (38.0%), followed by Europe (22.1%), Latin America (18.7%), and South Asia (15.9%). Pakistan, France, Algeria, Uganda, and Mexico contributed the most individual responses.
The survey was conducted through Wikifarmer's farmer network, partner organizations, and paid digital advertising via Meta, Google, and LinkedIn. The sample is self-selected and reflects farmers reachable through these channels rather than a probability sample of the global farming population; findings are reported as the views of participating farmers and are not extrapolated to national or global populations.
Read the full Voice of the Farmer 2026 survey at Wikifarmer's library.
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