By: Tyne Morgan, US Farm Report Host
It’s a “better than expected” yield story playing out across the country. Less than ideal summer weather put a damper on hopes of a bountiful crop, but once the combines started to roll, many farmers were pleased with the results.
“Yields were surprisingly better than I was expecting,” said Daryl Cates, a farmer in Waterloo, Ill. “I don’t know where the beans came from, because we went almost two months without any rain.”
It was a dry summer that Cates thought robbed his crop of yield. With better yields come better outlooks on farms, and that’s motivating some farmers looking to buy larger equipment.
“I think the demand is obviously greater than we thought there would be considering where commodity prices are right now,” said Tom Nobbe of Wm. Nobbe & Co, an equipment dealer based in Waterloo, Ill.
For farmers eager to upgrade, Machinery Pete says values are finding footing.
“Used combine values are kind of in a holding pattern,” said Greg Peterson, Host of Machinery Pete TV. “It surprises people when I tell them that, because they assume since times have been tough the last few years that values must be dropping a little bit. What we’ve been seeing on the auction market value is pretty much flat going back like the start of 2016.”
As values look to be on solid ground, he says more buyers are coming online searching for big ticket items like combines.
“It’s fascinating to look at the search traffic data,” said Machinery Pete. “If we isolate combines and looked at the third quarter of 2017 and compared it to third quarter of 2016, I think the statistics are something like It’s 30 to 40 percent increase that we’ve seen this year. To me that speaks to the solidifying of the combined market, because you have more people looking for used combines this time of year.”
No matter the hours or year it was made, Machinery Pete says it still comes down to the condition of the machine.
“As we come to the end of 2017 what we’re seeing is if a combine is in really good condition at auction, then there’s a surprising amount of heat on those when they come up for sale,” he said.
Machinery Pete says the end of the year typically draws even more interest in machinery, as some farmers look to take advantage of tax breaks. With potential tax changes in Washington, some dealers think it could be another interesting finish to an already surprising year.
“I actually just talked to our CPA yesterday, and he’s encouraging all his customers, because of the potential tax cuts that are coming, that he’s expecting a good finish on 2017,” said Nobbe. “He’s actually recommending that they [farmers] start considering buying machinery, because he’s pretty confident we will have something come along those lines,” said Nobbe.
Watch the latest “On the Road with Machinery Pete” segments from Waterloo, Ill. to see how technology could be on the horizon for farmers in Illinois.