News

Low commodity prices stabilize used equipment market

A sales manager for Case IH says several years of low commodity prices have helped stabilize the used equipment market.

Tony Randall is based in the Red River Valley.  He tells Brownfield buying patterns have changed dramatically in the seven years since corn was above $6 dollars a bushel.

“We’ve had some folks who have put off that normal (pattern). They liked to trade combines in at 800 hours. We’ve got guys now with a thousand or 1,200-hour combines.”

Randall says the days when 300 hours was a lot on a combine are gone.

“And that was really tough for our dealers because there was a huge amount of late-model low-hour trade equipment that came in, and no one was in the market for that used equipment.”

Randall expects new and used equipment sales to strengthen some with corn back above $4 dollars.  But he says most of the farmers he works with are more concerned about firming up their balance sheets rather than buying machinery.