News

Farm equipment sales up slightly

The Equipment Manufacturers Association says tractor sales in 2019 were up slightly for under-40 horsepower and over-100 horsepower units.

Senior Vice President Curt Blades says 2019 was anything but typical, as sales often followed the news cycles. “Whenever there’s just been a little bit of, you know, positive news on trade or positive news on renewable fuels or something that has to do with demand, you saw just a slight uptick in the psyche of a farmer that led to a little bit more equipment being purchased.”

Blades says the tax reform from a couple of years ago also changed buying patterns with fewer end-of-year purchases for tax planning.  He says self-propelled combine sales were down 12-percent, but most happened sooner than usual. “Farmers are looking at what took a little bit longer to harvest and all of the sudden realized that maybe it was time to upgrade their piece of equipment, so we saw some strong combine sales in the early part of the year, and that trend kind of continued throughout the middle of the year.”

Blades says articulated four-wheel-drive tractor sales rose more than 27%.

And as far as 2020, Blades says it’s hard to predict but many farmers are interested in new fuel and time-saving technology. 

He says manufacturers and dealers have had to adjust production and inventory to better match farmer demand, accounting for some of the 2019 layoffs in the industry.