North American sales of ag machinery continued to see upward growth in April, with row-crop tractors and combines leading the way with a 26.7% and 63% increase year-over-year, respectively.
It may or may not come as a surprise to farm equipment industry observers, but the U.S. is not the biggest user of farm tractors on a per-capita basis. It's number two, trailing Canada as utilizing the highest number of farm tractors per 1,000 farmers.
If you were to only look at the raw numbers, you might think that the pace of farm equipment dealership consolidation may have slowed its relentless pace during the past year. But nothing could be further from the fact.
North American sales of ag machinery continued on its upward trend in March with strong growth, as reported by the Assn. of Equipment Manufacturers. According to Mircea (Mig) Dobre, machinery analyst with RW Baird, U.S. and Canada ag equipment retails sales grew across nearly every category as it has during the past several months.
The results of a survey of 200 farm equipment dealers by UBS Global Equity Research indicate that, despite continued strong ag machinery sales through the first quarter of the year, U.S. farm equipment dealers aren’t quite as confident about the remainder of 2013.
If you were to only look at the raw numbers, you might think that the pace of farm equipment dealership consolidation may have slowed its relentless pace during the past year. But nothing could be further from the fact.
North American sales of ag machinery in February, as reported by the Assn. of Equipment Manufacturers, represented “more of the same” that dealers and manufacturers have seen in the past year or more: a strong upward trend.
You can’t help but notice that farm equipment makers, especially the major full-line companies, are rushing to set up manufacturing and sales facilities overseas. And we’ve all heard about the growing number of mouths that farmers will have to feed over the next several decades.
The outlook for equipment dealers catering to the livestock segment of U.S. agriculture will gradually improve as 2013 progresses with projected prices for cattle, hogs, broilers and milk continuing to rise and, in some cases, hit record highs. But many dealers expect that sales of hay tools will lag until input costs show some semblance of balance.
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In this episode of On the Record, brought to you by Associated Equipment Distributors, we take an initial look at the Dealer Business Outlook & Trends Report and what dealers are forecasting for 2025.