Readers of Progressive Farmer magazine were surveyed “to give voice to how owners rate their farming equipment.” The Reader Insights Tractor Study, authored by the magazine’s senior editor, Dan Miller, revealed that owners gave John Deere and Kubota the highest marks for overall owner experience. SOCAL Approach Marketing and Consulting Group collaborated with Progressive Farmer to conduct the survey.

As the Ag Equipment Intelligence Brand Loyalty Studies have demonstrated, equipment dealers play a vital role in farmers’ ultimate purchasing decisions. The Progressive Farmer study found owner relationships with their dealers are strongly connected to purchase decisions.

“Three-quarters of all tractors are purchased in part because of the dealer, owners told SOCAL Of the tractor owners who answered the question about the importance of dealers in making their tractor purchases, 40% said the dealer is very important; 35% somewhat important; 15% neither important nor unimportant; 3% somewhat unimportant; and 8% not important at all.”

The owners surveyed supplied detailed information on 7,062 tractors. On average, each of 1,982 owners who returned the tractor study provided information on 3.56 tractors. Tractor evaluations were collected from 47 states. States with most respondents include (beginning with the highest return rate): Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio, Indiana, Kansas, Texas, Missouri, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

The category winners rated by nearly 2,000 owners of more than 7,000 tractors included the following:.

Small Tractors (less than 100 HP)

  • Top small tractor manufacturer for Overall Ownership Experience: Kubota and John Deere (tied).
  • Top small tractor manufacturer for Owner Loyalty: John Deere.
  • Top small tractor manufacturer for Fewest Reported Problems Overall: Kubota (0.78 problems on average per tractor).

Medium Tractors (100-235 HP)

  • Top medium tractor manufacturer for Overall Ownership Experience: John Deere.
  • Top medium tractor manufacturer for Owner Loyalty: John Deere.
  • Top medium tractor manufacturer for Fewest Reported Problems Overall: New Holland (1.25 problems on average per tractor).

Large Tractors (236 HP and over)

  • Top large tractor manufacturer for Overall Ownership Experience: John Deere.
  • Top large tractor manufacturer for Owner Loyalty: John Deere.
  • Top large tractor manufacturer for Fewest Reported Problems Overall: John Deere (1.00 problems on average per tractor).

For more information on Ag Equipment Intelligence’s 2020 Farm Equipment Brand Loyalty Study, click here.