Last week I had a long telephone conversation with an equipment dealer I know pretty well. We discussed where the industry is these days and where's it's heading.
A little more speed might help, but reliability and horsepower are what custom cutters would like to see more of when it comes to their their equipment.
If you have any doubt about dealers value to their manufacturers, you should know that the independent research firm Morningstar rates the quality of dealer networks as one of three major characteristics that sets one manufacturer apart from their rivals.
After covering the John Deere and Case IH media events within the last two weeks, as well as one put on The Climate Corp. at the Farm Progress Show last week, I can't help but think what a revolution agriculture is going through.
Last week, while visiting a large farming operation in Michigan, I had the opportunity to ask the brothers who own and operate the 14,000-acre enterprise, if given the choice, what would they prefer, high crop prices or high crop yields?
Single-store dealers who handle John Deere farm equipment are becoming a vanishing breed. Kevin Godfrey knows this. He also knows other small Deere dealers who have been squeezed out of the business to make way for the company's "bigger is better" model for its retailers. He's feeling the pressure and understands the push for larger multi-location dealerships isn't going to go away; it's how Deere wants it.
If you were to only look at the unit sales numbers that the Assn. of Equipment Manufacturers makes available each month, you might that think that business for farm equipment dealers is looking pretty dismal at the moment. But as I've pointed out many times in the past, things almost always look bad when you compare them to the best years you've ever had.
In this episode of On the Record, brought to you by Associated Equipment Distributors, we look at President Trump's tariff reduction on ag equipment, the latest dealer sales forecasts, and how high input costs are keeping farmer sentiment down.
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