North American farm equipment dealers lowered their forecast for 2017 sales in September. According to the latest Dealer Sentiments & Business Conditions Update survey, in September on average, dealers are forecast sales to be down 8% in 2017. This is down from their forecast of a 3% drop the prior month.

However, dealers’ forecast for 2016 sales improved in September. On average, they are forecasting sales to be down 12% year-over-year, better than August’s forecast of down 15%. A net 48% of dealers are forecasting a sales decline  (20% increase, 15% about the same, 68% decline). Kubota dealers were once again the only group forecasting growth for 2016, expecting sales to increase 2%. AGCO dealers were the least optimistic, forecasting sales to be down 20%.