Even though Minnesota farmers have typically seen their gross incomes notably increase since 2002, the money they end up taking home has taken a hit in recent years. A University of Minnesota economist says the amount they are spending on equipment is a big reason for this.

The outlook for 2018 farm net income varies depending on recent reports from USDA on Aug. 30 and University of Missouri’s Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) on Sept. 18. However, the USDA outlook did not include potential payments from the Market Facilitation Program (MFP) that provides farmers with compensation for losses incurred because of trade disputes, announced on Aug. 27. On the other hand, FAPRI’s farm income projections incorporates the initial round of MFP payments.

More than 1,000 farm equipment dealers from 10 European countries participated in a survey aimed at ranking the major tractor brands based on 14 criteria. The overall scores resulted in Kubota and Fendt rated as the top brands in the “Dealers Satisfaction Index” (DSI) for 2018.

The survey was conducted by CLIMMAR, a network of 16 national associations, headquartered in the Netherlands, that represent ag machinery dealers across much of Europe. This year’s study reported how the various tractor brands compared to the results of the study conducted in 2017.