Indian tractor manufacturer Mahindra sold a record number of tractors in its most recent financial year, as the domestic market continued to grow sufficiently to offset lower export sales resulting from inventory adjustments in key markets.
Worldwide economic unrest along with political unrest both here and abroad has placed a black cloud over the U.S. agricultural economy and has slowed large equipment sales to almost a crawl.
2019 is developing into a very unique year for equipment sales. For the past several decades the under 40 horsepower class of tractors represented more than 50% of the total tractors sold in the U.S. In 2019, we expect this class of tractors will represent between 62-65% of the total tractors sold as sales for the larger tractors slide even more.
The downturn that we are experiencing today is certainly as dramatic as those early ones, but today farmers are not encumbered with massive debt and the current interest rates are very reasonable for those who have debts to service. This certainly is not a pleasant experience for anyone in the industry, but there is much more optimism than in previous downturns.
July 2019 saw decreases in U.S. sales of combines and 4WD tractors as well as total U.S. 2WD tractor sales compared to July 2018, according to the latest data from the Assn. of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM).
From The Herald, Zimbabwe currently requires 40,000 tractors and only has 12,000, of which 9,000 are functional and 3,000 require repairs. This deficit of farm machinery and implements has negatively affected agricultural production and productivity.
While the majority of producers are still buying their equipment outright, there continues to be a number of farmers who have been nudged toward lease contracts in order to conserve capital and still have new, dependable equipment with which to farm their land.
Australian farm machinery dealers are experiencing contrasting fortunes as some see improvement on last year’s reduced volumes while others record a continuing decline in orders.
Italian tractor manufacturer SDF Group has pushed ahead with a major investment in Turkey despite a huge and sudden drop in unit sales in the Turkish market.
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There was plenty of technology on display at the World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wis., a few weeks ago. Farm Equipment editor Mike Lessiter caught up with Monarch Tractor’s John Issacson and got his take on the top 5 applications in autonomy right now.