The kickoff to the 2025 growing season has been a double-edged sword of late, with a faltering farm economy that’s currently cold as ice but an ag equipment auction market that’s defying the odds and staying red-hot.
That high level of farmer interest in buying used is especially evident in the sprayer market. Strong up-and-to-the-right growth in that segment continues to push higher as we head into spring planting season.
“Over the 35 years I’ve been doing this, when there’s [economic] uncertainty [in the market] that usually puts pressure on the farmers to start holding their cards a little bit tighter,” said Machinery Pete on the latest episode of the Moving Iron podcast. “Now, whether people feel optimism for the rest of the year and beyond, that’s something I don’t know for sure, but it’s really interesting what’s been happening over the past month.”
In the past couple of weeks, Machinery Pete and Casey Seymour have tracked several examples of record-breaking and near-record-breaking sprayer transactions, including:
A 2024 Fendt 937H sprayer (426 operating hours) sold in a recent online auction for $525,000, which tops the highest auction price ever recorded for any used sprayer by $16,000.
A 2023 John Deere 412R sprayer (567 hours) brought in $426,000 at an online auction. Machinery Pete says that’s the highest auction price ever for that model.
A 2024 Hagie STS12 high clearance sprayer (592 hours) sold for $435,000, which is the second highest auction price ever on any used Hagie sprayer.
“It just feels like the sprayer market is heating up at a different rate than other equipment,” says Seymour, who has over 20 years of experience in ag equipment sales. “Even row crop tractors, that’s the voice of the equipment market, right? Usually if the market starts to pick up, row crop tractors will pick up and start to fly, and as soon as things tick down, tractors are the last thing that will slow down. Well right now, we’re just not seeing a whole lot on the row crop tractor market you can point to and say ‘Hey, we’re seeing good movement’.”
If you want to get in on the action in the used equipment auction world, Machinery Pete says to mark your calendars for the upcoming March 18 Sullivan Auctioneers no reserve online sale. He says there are some good machines to be had in the sale. You can check it out here.
Big Iron & Sullivan Auctioneers Roundtable
In 2022, you might remember BigIron Auctions and Sullivan Auctioneers came together via a merger. Since then the companies have been working in the market as separate entities but also collaborating when and where it makes the most sense. Both entities are ready to push deeper into the markets and capitalize on the deep rosters of auction world experience.
“From a buyer perspective we’re a one-stop-shop because of the massive amount of machinery we’re selling on a regular basis, and because they know the quality of the way the equipment is represented (online),” says Dan Sullivan, manager, Sullivan Auctioneers. “They’ve gone to other sites and gotten burned a little bit and it leaves a bad taste in their mouth. And the customers come back to us time and time again because of that end result – the machine is actually better than they thought from just seeing it online.”
Speaking of online, the group shared some thoughts on the changing landscape of used equipment auctions. Most auctions were once in-person events, but since COVID hit there are more online auctions today than ever before. There are pros and cons that come along with each venue, the group agreed, but online auctions are surely here to stay.
“The number of pictures and the videos that you get with the online postings, it helps you really see that item and you can actually view it better than if you were standing right next to it,” says Tim Meyer, BigIron Auctions.
The roundtable closed out with an overview of what the group is seeing and hearing in the used equipment market. Be sure to go back and listen to the full podcast as it’s a segment that features over 100 years of combined equipment auction expertise in one room. It’s a special segment that you do not want to miss.
Commodities Update
Trade war speculation has had a negative effect on the markets in the near term, but Chip Nellinger, co-owner of Blue Reef Agri-Marketing, seems to feel strongly there’s a possible upside on the backend if the Trump administration were to iron out some of these hanging-on-from-a-thread trade deals in the next few months.
One thing Nellinger is sure of is America is still the world’s King of Corn, and that should translate to an upswing in corn prices later in the season.
“Arguably in soybeans South America has a big crop, but corn right now we’re basically the only game in town – the only game in the world, essentially – so this thing could be good down the road,” he says.
Nellinger thinks the upcoming USDA Planting Intentions report will show 4.5 million more corn acres going in than previously projected and a reduction in soybean plantings around the 4 million acre mark. Cotton, too, is looking to be down on total acreage in 2025.
“It’s going to be very, very critical going into the summer that we get some more rain across the Corn Belt,” he says, adding that farmers need to have a solid plan of attack ready for the futures markets before spring planting season starts heating up and they get too busy to pay attention to the markets.
WATCH THE FULL EPISODE OF MOVING IRON HERE.
Your Next Read: 10 Sprayer Technology Retrofit Kits That Will Save You Money
