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AEM: tractor and combine sales are up, reflecting strength in farmer sentiment

Tractors and combine sales are up in the U.S. and Canada, according to a recent report form the Association of Equipment Manufacturers.

Curt Blades, senior vice president of agriculture for AEM, says the increase reflects farmer sentiment about the future of their operations.

“it’s a really good early indicator of whether folks are enthusiastic about where markets are headed,” he says.

U.S. farm tractor sales rose nearly 30 percent in January and self-propelled combine sales grew 77 percent.

Blades tells Brownfield tractor and combine sales have strengthened over the past 9 months despite the coronavirus pandemic.

“We’ve seen great commodity price rebounds, we’ve seen a good crop in a lot of parts of the nation, and we’ve seen a lot of these trade issues start to resolve so there’s a lot of reasons for farmers to be optimistic and that’s showing in their investments in their capital products,” he says.”

February results will be out in early March.

“You never know for sure what it’s going to look like, but we can point to the growth we’ve seen over the past 12 months and consider this a trend at this point,” he says. “Tractor sales and combine sales have been solid in the U.S. and are growing in Canada as well.”

The largest increase has been in under 40 horsepower tractors. Blades says the market for the smaller tractor has strengthened over the past 18 months. 100+ horsepower tractors were up one percent and four-wheel drive tractors were up nearly 38 percent in January.

AEM releases a monthly tractor and combine report for sales in the U.S. and Canada. Click here for more information.