The USDA estimates that only about 5% of corn has been planted as of April 22.

In this podcast, we discuss big changes in CNH Industrial's leadership, dealer consolidation and changes to Ag Equipment Intelligence's Big Dealer Report, the Bayer-Monsanto merger and what it means for the ag industry and updates to the 2018 Farm Bill.

Generally, North American farm equipment dealers remain positive about their prospects for improving sales in the year ahead, according to the most recent results from the monthly Ag Equipment Intelligence Dealer Sentiments & Business Conditions Update survey.

In this podcast, we discuss how a GKN shareholder vote stymied the company's plan to combine its automotive and off-highway drive systems operation with Dana Corp., Titan Machinery's fourth quarter and year-end financial results, a number of legislative updates — including the Supreme Court's ruling that service advisers are exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act's overtime requirement, and Art's Way's first quarter earnings.

As reported in the March issue of Ag Equipment Intelligence, several manufacturers of farm machinery and components registered solidly better sales in 2017 than the previous few years and are looking for more of the same this year.

Despite U.S. farmers taking on more debt in recent years, their ability to pay it down remains steady and nowhere near the situation they found themselves in during the mid-1980s.

In its Feb. 4 Ag Finance Databook and Feb. 15 Ag Credit Survey report, the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City characterized current credit conditions as “stabilized modestly but continuing to show signs of weakness … despite signs of stabilizing in the fourth quarter, bankers’ expectations were for loan demand to strengthen and loan repayment rates to weaken slightly in the first quarter of 2018.”