There wasn't really any big news that came from last week's USDA World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report. While we're waiting for crops to finally get planted, it seems all we can really do is speculate.
We just put the final touches on the Ag Equipment Intelligence "2014 Big Dealer" report, and subscribers will be getting their copies in the next several days. Together with George Russell of Currie Management Consultants, we've been tracking and analyzing the consolidation of farm equipment dealers since 2009.
Suburban sprawl has been reaching farther and farther into rural communities for years and changing the makeup of those communities. For one Indiana dealership, that sprawl meant it no longer was serving its customers as well as it used to.
Properly used irrigated acres are roughly twice as productive as dryland fields, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, but only 20% of the world's cropland is irrigated.
Following a presentation I made to Indiana and Kentucky dealers in Louisville several weeks ago, I was asked by a dealer attending the session how much confidence did I have in monthly reports from the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture.
Farm equipment dealers who still aren't sure why their segment of the agricultural industry is consolidating only need to look at what's happening with their customers. Like so many things, even as the value of agricultural production grows, overall it's becoming concentrated in fewer and fewer operators.
Just about the time that dealer or brand purity appeared to have become a non-issue for farm equipment dealers, the issue is once again raising its ugly head.
This week, the USDA documented what we all know is happening: one-third of farmers are now older than 65. While I don't possess hard data on dealer personnel, a scan of hair hues at a dealer meeting last week shows more of the same. No news here.
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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