Year-to-date sales of tractors were down 0.3 per cent compared to 2024, while combine sales were up 1.6 per cent.

Total four-wheel drive tractors sales fell by 22.5 per cent. Total two-wheel drive tractor sales rose by 0.8 per cent.

In November, sales of two-wheel drive tractors under 40 horsepower were down 10.2 per cent compared to November of 2024 while sales of tractors with more than 100 horsepower were down 18.6 per cent. Sales of tractors with between 40 and 100 horsepower were up 11.8 per cent compared to the same month last year.

Four-wheel drive tractor sales fell by 50.6 per cent compared to last November. Combine sales were up 25.6 per cent.

Canadian equipment sales fared better than U.S. sales. At the end of November, year-to-date sales of all tractors were down 9.7 per cent in the U.S. Combine sales were down 38.3 per cent.

Downward trend continues

Overall, farm equipment sales in both countries have been trending down in recent years.

In late 2023, Farm Credit Canada warned that the year’s robust sales were unlikely to continue. The farm lender said sales had been strong thanks to the resolution of pandemic-era supply chain issues and strong farm cash receipts. However, drought in Western Canada and softening commodity prices were likely to take their toll.

Sales declined in 2024 as predicted, and in November 2024, FCC again predicted a slump in 2025 as farmers faced low commodity prices and high equipment costs.

Tariff impacts

This was before U.S. President Donald Trump took office and announced sweeping tariffs — including on the imported steel and aluminum needed to build machinery.

In late November, farm equipment manufacturer Deere & Co said it expected tariff impacts on the company to come in around US$600 million (C$826.1 million). It predicted a pre-tax tariff hit of around US$1.2 billion (C$1.65 billion) in 2026.

Low crop prices and high production costs were prompting American farmers to put off purchases or opt for used equipment. Deere has considered production shifts, higher prices and widening its portfolio to used equipment.

CFRA Research analyst Jonathan Sakraida said he does not expect Deere to recover until fiscal 2027, adding that the company struggled to offset tariff impacts.

—With files from Reuters

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Both students and staff at Northwestern Polytechnic in Fairview are praising the Tenstar Simulator for its capacity to safely build students’ operational skills with expensive ag machinery and better prepare them for real-life field scenarios.

“When you go onto a farm, your employer or your dad are not going to be confident putting you in cold on the brand new piece of equipment,” says Shaela Lee, the agriculture program coordinator with the school, which bills itself as the largest post-secondary institution in northern Alberta.

“We would rather you come here, get hands-on in a simulated environment, crash this thing, refine your skills and then you’re a little bit more familiar with the equipment before you get into the huge equipment that can be daunting and costs lots and lots of money.”

The simulator — which was purchased in January — is intended for students in the polytechnic’s recently-established two-year agriculture operations diploma program.

Because the program caters to students with a wide range of ag backgrounds, some have had more experience with tractors and combines than others, says Lee. However, the platform has challenged even those with extensive real-life experience.

“This year, many of the students who were going onto the simulator were quite confident,” she says.

“During the exercises, they got stuck. So they were humbled a little bit … Some of our students have come from grain farms, so they haven’t operated a baler or anything like that.

“Each student learned a little something from the experience, regardless of their starting point.”

Even though student Karson Wasylciw has been helping run combines with his grandfather since he was seven, he still sees the simulator’s value for both himself and other students in the program.

“I know for myself, when I get in someone else’s piece of equipment, the first worry is always not messing up and making sure that everything runs smoothly once I’m done with it,” says Wasylciw, who’s working towards taking over his grandparents’ portion of the family farm.

“So being able to get the practice time in and getting fairly comfortable with it before actually jumping onto a $100,000 piece of equipment is quite beneficial.”

Although it obviously does not offer the exact sensation one would get from running a real-life piece of equipment, Wasylciw says it’s pretty close.

“It is so similar that I think you can get fairly confident on there and be able to get in a different piece of farm equipment and have no issues running it.”

Weather adjustable

Lee says the Tenstar is a good fit for the program, which was designed for the winter months to give students a chance to take part in fall harvesting and return for spring seeding. The simulator also removes the risks of firing up a real-life tractor in freezing winter conditions.

A few of the 50 tractor-related exercises Tenstar can replicate include baling, tillage and spreading fertilizer. It supports basically “anything you can pull behind a tractor,” says Kristy Honing, chairperson of animal health technology at the polytechnic.

“There’s a screen on the back too so that when you turn around, you can look at what’s behind you. No kidding — if there’s a rock that you’re going over, the seat will move as well.”

The combine component is a little different, says Lee. Although it doesn’t have as many options as the tractor sim, users have the ability to adjust for various weather and environmental conditions.

“During harvest, the weather changes constantly. From dusk to dawn the weather can shift. So you’re able to adjust the simulator to test the students and give them different scenarios.”

Wide-ranging applications

Manufactured by the Swedish-based Tenstar Simulation company, the simulator is a self-contained unit compatible with a host of simulation software.

Although it comes with a choice of configurations, the machine purchased by Northwestern Polytechnic looks similar — and to an extent functions in a similar way to — an updated version of the sit-down arcade racing games from the 1980s and ‘90s.

Its applications are not limited to agriculture. According to the company website, the Tenstar is also marketed to schools and companies that train in the construction, transportation, traffic and forestry industries.

“There was a week where some of the health students came and were driving ambulances on it,” says Wasylciw.

“There’s are quite a few different pieces of machinery that you can get on there. We just have the tractor and combine for ourselves, but it looked like you could go right down to cranes and excavators and stuff.”

Tenstar Simulators are interoperable with other machines under its platform, making options potentially unlimited minus budgetary considerations.

“If there were two simulators, you could sync them together so one could be on the combine portion and one could be on the tractor,” says Lee.

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Major manufacturers, as well as short-line operations, are feeling the pinch, reducing production and laying off workers.

Ben Voss is an engineer who has worked in various capacities for a number of farm equipment manufacturers over the course of his career. He also farms in Saskatchewan.

He says farm equipment sales have been declining each year since 2021-22 and that this is one of the tougher times in the industry over the past 20 years.

While it’s natural to blame soft grain prices and the drop in farm income, Voss believes structural changes in agriculture are a big contributor to this downturn.

Others in the industry may be coming to the same conclusions, but insiders tied to a firm may be hesitant to talk about this elephant in the room.

Voss has gone public with his analysis, posting a couple in-depth articles on LinkedIn.

Manufacturers tend to target the sale of large, high-tech equipment to large farmers. That’s where the demand has been for new equipment.

In the past, a ready market has existed for two-or- three-year-old used equipment as those large farmers ungraded to newer and better.

Voss argues that large operations now farm a big percentage of the total land base, and the number of second-tier buyers isn’t large enough to maintain good prices on used equipment.

Therefore, prices are soft and dropping in many used equipment categories. This is especially true in combines.

Voss points to a situation where a large, new John Deere combine with only a couple hours on it sold for auction at $400,000 less than new price. While this is an extreme example, it illustrates the magnitude of the issue.

In a market saturated with big equipment just a few years old, sale prices drop, and that has wide-ranging implications.

When you figure out what equipment costs you per acre, you typically assume a salvage value — the value you get when you trade off the machine. As salvage values drop, the cost per acre for a machine rises dramatically.

This also has a big impact on the equipment leasing market.

All the equations change when equipment depreciates much faster than anticipated.

Large farms calculating their costs are less likely to trade machines as quickly. Low-hour used equipment increasingly looks like a bargain compared to buying new.

Another pertinent aspect to the discussion is technology and whether the increasing software and computers on new equipment will stand the test of time.

Voss and others worry that the technology may become obsolete or unserviceable long before the mechanical aspects of the machine are worn out. Manufacturers are only required to provide parts for 10 years.

What good is a sprayer if the monitor fails and can’t be fixed or replaced?

Voss argues that equipment should come with a “manual” mode so it can still be functional without some of the precision agriculture technology.

Farm equipment sales have always seen ups and downs through the years, but this downturn may not be solved by an uptick in farm income.

Look at how much excess equipment capacity is sitting on dealer lots. How many new units will be sold if the depreciation rate is going to be so extreme?

Voss makes compelling arguments for why this is a structural change for which the industry will need to adapt.

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Farmers weren’t feeling it this past winter.

Canadian producers bought only 21 new combines in January. That’s down 83 per cent from January of 2024, when farmers purchased 123 self-propelled combines, says a sales report from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM).

American sales data is similar. In January 2024, U.S. farmers bought 460 combines. This January, they only purchased 97.

In more hopeful news, Canadian sales of 4WD farm tractors climbed in January, going from 49 in January 2024 to 59 tractors this year.

Looking at the bigger picture, sales of farm tractors and combines have declined over the last year in North America. That trend may continue in 2025, the AEM said during a presentation at the Commodity Classic farm show March 3.

“AEM data show 2024 shipments of LHP and HHP (low and high HP) equipment have dropped year over year,” says an AEM summary of 2024.

Sales of low HP tractors have seen the steepest decline over the last couple of years. Shipments of higher horsepower tractors have also contracted, but not as much:

• As of December 2024, sales of LHP tractors were down 24 per cent year over year and 13 per cent below the five year average in the United States.
• For HHP, 2024 sales were similar to the five year average and 17 percent below year over year in the U.S.
• “That (high HP) market has been pretty stable over the last few years,” said Curt Blades, AEM senior vice-president of industry sectors.

“In 2023, we were trending above that line (the five year average)…. (But) in 2024, we were seeing that deceleration of that high HP tractor sales.”

The sales figures for combines followed a similar pattern.

Blades ended the AEM presentation with some key takeaway messages. Sluggish demand for ag equipment will likely persist in 2025 due to weaker grain prices, questions around biofuel policies and trade issues.

“In the ag market right now, there’s a lot of uncertainty,” he said.

The post Tractor, combine sales face downward trend appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

According to a recent news release from Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation, higher combine prices do not yet appear to have affected their sales in Canada. Increased market demand has driven higher sales each year since 2020. However, it noted, recent data suggests that combine sales, while strong on a year-to-date basis, tell a different story when measured year-over-year.

Good crop prices and record-high farm income may have previously buffered the effect of growing combine prices on buyer behaviour, the province said. That gravy train has since hit the brakes.

“Surprisingly, recent data from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers show combine sales in Canada up 5.7 per cent year-to-date in July, while U.S. sales are down nearly 18 per cent year-to-date,” read the release.

“Sales in Canada for the month of July 2024, however, are nearly 28 per cent lower compared to July 2023. This may indicate tougher market conditions ahead.”

The release also noted the technology-rich nature of newer combines, which may be playing into consumer demand.

“The level of technology has increased dramatically and newer machines are equipped with GPS, computer sensors and a range of automatic features,” it noted.

Inflation, unsurprisingly, is also playing a major role. Although the price of a combine has increased in real terms, general inflation has also “contributed substantially” to increasing sticker prices, said the department.

The release also referenced the effect of the exchange rate between Canada and the U.S. As of Aug. 29, the Canadian dollar is worth 74 cents of a U.S. dollar, according to Google Finance.

“Many combines sold in Canada are manufactured in the U.S., and so the exchange rate has an effect on prices as well,” the release noted. “Combine prices seem to be more suppressed when the Canadian dollar is strong vis-a-vis the U.S. dollar, such as the period from 2010 to 2012, than when the Canadian dollar is weak.”

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Day two of the NFMS saw Massey Ferguson debut its 500R sprayer to attendees, and New Holland was eager to show how its latest collaboration helps guide all of your harvested grains into a grain cart.

Heath Kehnemund, marketing product specialist with Massey Ferguson, says the company’s 500R sprayer is designed for ease of operation and requires less maintenance.

“One of the things that we do differently than a lot of our competitors on the market is we have a LiquidLogic system…” said Kehnemund, “at the end of the day if you get blown out or rained out we can actually bring that product back to the tank to be able to go out and spray the next day.”

To help keep problem areas to a minimum, greaseless bushings are standard on the 500R and the cab interior takes a common look-and-feel approach for operators.

“It’s a common cab across a lot of our platforms,” said Kehnemund, “A guy can go from one machine to another and be very comfortable.”

Automation ‘Raven’ swoops in

A second new announcement at the show for New Holland was its collaboration with Raven Industries for Raven Cart Automation.

The new automated system reduces operator error during the handoff of grain between a combine operator and a tractor operator during harvest.

“With the system set up, you have reduced chances of impact, reduced chances of grain spillage, reduced chances of operator error as a whole” said Nick Mortensen, technology marketing manager for New Holland.

Raven Cart Automation works via local radio frequency which provides no delay in connection between the combine and a tractor. The system also allows combine operators to call up to six grain carts at a time in order to keep things moving smoothly in the field.

Want to hear more? Watch for upcoming videos of the Massey Ferguson 500R sprayer and the New Holland Raven Cart Automation system coming soon to AgDealerTV.

The post New Massey Sprayer comes to NFMS, combines and grain carts get synchronized appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Two well-known machinery brands took this opportunity to pull back the curtain and showcase their latest offerings in the combine market.

After turning heads at the Agritechnica show in Germany last November, New Holland’s CR11 combine began its North American tour on opening day of the annual show in Louisville, Kentucky.

New Holland’s C11 combine sports a brand new Cursor 16 engine and sees a horsepower output of 775, an increase of 75 horsepower compared with its C10 brother.

“This combine is built on the strong legacy of New Holland twin-rotor combines,” said Curtis Hillen, combine marketing manager for New Holland. “But this sets a new benchmark in the industry in terms of combine performance.”

Not to be outdone – and also weighing in at 775 horsepower – was Case IH’s new AF11 combine parked on the other side of the Exposition Center hall.

Leo Bose, harvest marketing manager with Case IH, says there are three areas the company has focused in on with its latest and largest combine.

“There’s really three areas that we focus in on,” said Bose. “Not only capacity, but the technology and the run time that really our customers are requesting for the size of machine we see behind us today.”

Want to learn more? Watch for upcoming videos of both of these combines on AgDealerTV coming soon to a screen near you.

Now in its 58th year, the National Farm Machinery Show is the largest indoor trade show in the United States.

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New 4WD unit sales in Canada grew 84.8 per cent year over year in November and 41.5 percent year to date, according to the Association of Equipment Managers.

In October, it reported Canadian sales of tractors above 100 horsepower were up 37.4 per cent compared to the same month in 2022. Sales of 4WD tractors were up 141 per cent in October, also compared to the same month in 2022.

However, the figures are a little deceptive, said John Schmeiser, CEO of the North American Equipment Dealers Association. That’s because farmers are finally receiving equipment ordered when the industry was still working through pandemic and strike-driven supply chain woes.

“The 4WD sales are definitely due to the delayed inventory of ordered equipment finally arriving, whereas the previous year’s sales were impacted by the pandemic and fewer unit numbers than what the market wanted were able to be delivered,” wrote Schmeiser in an email.

“So it looks good that there was an increase in sales, but in reality, the industry was getting caught up in delivering the units.”

Jim Wood, chief sales and operations officer with Calgary-based Rocky Mountain Equipment, agrees with Schmeiser that long-awaited deliveries make up the bulk of recent purchases.

“When you see big spikes like that, especially in this day and age and with production the way it was, it’s really just deliveries. They’re finally delivering stuff.”

However, producers still appear to have the confidence to buy, he added.

“We’ve sold all our four-wheel-drive production up until Q4 of next year, so I think that the farmers are confident. The pandemic brought on $24 canola, which brings on taxable income for farmers and cash receipts. So there is more demand because of commodity prices and things like that during COVID.”

Most farm equipment, new and used, is selling well at Rocky Mountain Equipment, said Wood.

“Combines are pretty consistent now and most other (equipment is) fairly consistent. Demand is still high. We sell as much used as we do new.”

Trading used for new has become a trend among customers thanks to the high value placed on pre-owned machinery, said Wood. Played right, it could mean paying a relatively small cash difference.

“As the new (equipment) goes up, your used value goes up. It’s the person that maybe had a 2022 combine and trades it on a new 2023 combine that are just paying that cash difference,” he said.

“Somebody buying a 2023 combine and trading in a 2014 combine, that’s where they’re going to see the huge price gap, because they’re 2014. They really didn’t see the same appreciation that a 2022 did.”

Kevin Kehler, vice-president of sales with Manitoba-based Greenvalley Equipment, said his business has had strong sales across all its product lines, including 4WD tractors.

While he concedes a lot of these sales stem from the lag between customers ordering equipment and receiving it, he said producers continue to place orders on 4WD tractors and other equipment.

“The long lead times to receive a new tractor are decreasing. It’s a good time to be in business and a good time to be in business as a farm producer as well.”

Overall, Kehler rates producers’ confidence as high when it comes to buying new equipment.

“We still have a number of new four-wheel-drive tractors on order that do not have delivery dates, so there’s still some new orders to fill.”

He attributes strong sales to strong cash receipts built on high commodity prices. However, commodity prices have weakened a bit over the past year.

“We see a spillover of income from some good crops and strong pricing over the last number of years. Do we anticipate that we could see a slight drop in demand? Yes. The reality is, we won’t be surprised if that happens,” he said.

“But at this moment, we have not seen demand drop for equipment. It’s extremely strong.”

Kehler would like to see more farmers trade in their used equipment and buy new at a cash difference. This would rebuild Greenvalley’s inventory of pre-owned equipment at a time when machines in that category are at a premium.

Strong sales aren’t due to lower equipment prices. Those have gone in the opposite direction, Scott Garvey reported in Grainews in early December.

According to the Manitoba government’s most recent cost of production guide, medium (160 to 224 horsepower) tractor prices have increased 35 per cent; large four-wheel drives (550+ hp) are up 28 per cent; Class 9 combines are up 27 per cent; high-clearance sprayers are up 31 per cent; and air drills are up 62 per cent, Garvey wrote.

Closer to home, calculations based on Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation’s latest report on farm input prices in the province reveal the average price of a new combine (Class 7, self-propelled, 323-374 hp) rose almost 20 per cent between November 2022 and November 2023. A 4WD tractor (325-375 hp) rose just over 20 per cent in the same time period.

Full equipment sales reports can be found in the Market Data section of the AEM website under Ag Tractor and Combine Reports.

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Agritechnica is the world’s largest agriculture machinery show, drawing more than 400,000 people from around the world to Hannover, Germany. Glacier FarmMedia Senior Technology Editor John Greig was there and summarized the major product launches and some of the ag-tech industry trends he observed.

– John Greig is a senior editor with Glacier FarmMedia. Watch for much more detail on these and many more stories and videos from Agritechnica in our Glacier FarmMedia newspapers and websites.

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I also happened upon the Canada pavilion, packed with companies familiar to many of us, including Honey Bee, Mankato, Schulte and Bushel Plus.

The companies say that there’s value in companies from Canada banding together to create more of a splash than they could individually for show attendees from around the world.

There are also some Canadian agriculture companies that are growing quickly.

At Bushel Plus, founder and CEO Marcel Kringe says that his company has grown to 30 employees, as the business diversifies from technology to test harvest loss out the back of the combine, to buying Canadian company Mad Concaves, to training farmers all over the world, from Europe, to Canada, to the United States, to Australia on how to maintain and set their combine for greater productivity.

Not far from the Canada pavilion is another company with a Canadian connection – Vaderstad, which took over Seed Hawk, which manufactures in Langbank, Sask. Vaderstad launched a new seeder at Agritechnica, the Seed Hawk 600-900C.

Chris Bettschen, a Canadian from Saskatchewan, who manages Australia and New Zealand for Vaderstad, says the new seeder will be manufactured at Vaderstad’s  plant in Sweden, but will have components from the Canadian plant. This seeder will have a wider appeal around the world, including in other parts of Canada, than Seed Hawk drills did due to its slimmer available width and new Vaderstad electronics. However, it retains some of the Seed Hawk look – and its well-known openers.

Lots of green

John Deere has one of the largest displays and is organized in a new way, the focus on two production systems in agriculture – one for small grains – think tractors and tillage, planters, fertilizer spreaders, then sprayers and combines. On the other side of the display is livestock equipment.

My tour of John Deere’s display included updates to combine systems, including slope compensation, new belts for draper heads that catch more small-seeded grains and oilseeds, a review of the company’s autonomy plans and a close-up look at its 8R tractor with its E-IVT transmission that produces electricity, which then drives power needs of implements.

John Deere often commands the spotlight with new releases, but that’s not the case this year at Agritechnica.

– John Greig is a senior editor with Glacier FarmMedia. Watch for much more detail on these and many more stories and videos from Agritechnica in our Glacier FarmMedia newspapers and websites.

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