Farm Equipment editors encounter a variety of articles, social media posts, podcasts and videos that offer a unique look at various aspects of our great farm machinery industry. Here is our favorite content from the past week from across the web:

Machinery Pete Tries to Make Sense of Record-Setting Auction Prices

Greg Peterson has seen a lot during his 36-plus years tracking farm equipment auction sales. But late in 2025, he’s trying to make sense of a record-setting sales trend he’s never seen before, including a 2025 Case IH AF11 that recently sold for $1.157 million, the highest auction price ever on a combine. “This extended dearth of new equipment sales the past 18 to 24 months is beginning to create a shortage of good, used equipment. You thought used prices were high now. Just wait,” he says.

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Source: AG Web & Machinery Pete

Longtime Farmer Shares Why He’s Hesitant to Buy New Equipment

Brownfield Ag News catches up with farmer Rock Katschnig at the 2025 Greater Peoria Farm Show. Katschnig, who just harvested his 49th crop in Henry County, Ill., shares his thoughts on the challenging ag economy and what it means for his equipment plans in 2026. “I’d like to have a new 24-row strip-till bar, but it’s $650,000. It’s just not practical with 7-8% interest. It just doesn’t work with these commodity prices.”

Deere Dealer Hosts Young Technicians Roundtable

Beau Dvorachek, strategic solutions manager for Wisconsin John Deere dealer Riesterer & Schnell, leads a roundtable discussion with 3 young technicians who started as high school apprentices. The group discusses the value of mentorship, hands-on learning and the diverse paths into ag equipment service — even for those without a farming background.

New Tool Estimates ROI of Smart Sprayers

Two faculty members at Montana State Univ. Extension developed the Smart Spray Annual ROI Calculator, a free and easy-to-use digital tool where farmers can plug in numbers relevant to their own operations and determine how much time it would take for them to save enough money to justify the cost of new tools. “Many of these environmental or precision agriculture practices are going to make sense on some operations for some people, but they’re not going to make sense everywhere. There are no cut-and-paste solutions,” says Kelsey Larson, who grew up in Bozeman and received her doctorate in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before joining the faculty in the Department of Agricultural Economics in January. “It was exciting to have a concrete way to help Montana producers to figure out what makes sense for them.”

Ricardo Pinto

Ricardo Pinto, an assistant professor at the Montana State University Northern Agricultural Research Center. Source: Ricardo Pinto

More Young People Embracing Skilled Trades

There will be over 2 million open jobs for skilled trades by 2030 according to Made by Anderson Brands co-founders Kory and Ali Anderson. We’ve covered the dealer and manufacturer needs for technicians several times over the past couple years, and in this Fox News segment, the Andersons discuss their non-profit that’s encouraging and teaching students about how to take advantage of the opportunities.

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