News

Ag equipment dealers brace for another challenging year

Ag equipment dealers are bracing for another challenging year.

Kim Schmidt with Ag Equipment Intelligence says issues that weighed heavily on the industry in 2024 like high interest rates, high inventories, and low farmer sentiment persist.

“Dealers are definitely looking for new equipment revenue to be down versus this year, which was a down year. Same goes on the used equipment side.”

She tells Brownfield high interest rates continue to negatively impact dealers by not only deterring farmers from buying equipment but by impacting floorplan interest.

“The money they are paying to have inventory on their lot, that was a big piece of it for dealers. And the cost of hold the equipment when it’s not selling is a big deal for them.”

Schmidt says ag equipment dealers are encouraged by recent interest rate reductions by the Federal Reserve.