The latest Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) U.S. Tractor and Combine Sales Report paints a troubling picture for the farm equipment manufacturing industry. While Canadian tractor sales increased 3.4% in April 2025, year-over-year numbers for American sales were not so kind.
U.S. sales across all categories (4WD and 2WD tractors, self-propelled combines) tracked by AEM were down for the month, with total farm tractor sales falling 13.3% and combines down 48.3% year to date.
AEM Senior Vice President Curt Blades said the ongoing sales slump indicates that farmers are still holding onto working capital and waiting for brighter days ahead before they upgrade to new machines.
“The other thing I would point out with both of those two categories is that this is a year-on-year comparison. At this time last year, we had actually sold quite a few combines,” Blades explained. “So, we’re comparing against kind of a sales boom in combines, and now we’re seeing that slow down. There is some cyclical nature to this, specifically with combines, and the same thing sort of holds true with four-wheel-drive tractors as well.”
Blades said its important to take a holistic view of the entire farm equipment market when considering these monthly sales statistics. He thinks used equipment sales are currently trending up, which is a good sign overall for the farm economy.
“The other thing that comes into play here is USDA is projecting total farm income to be up for 2025, and I think that’s probably going to be related to government disaster relief payments that can tend to shake loose some tractor and combine sales,” he added. “But I think if you ask any farmer in North America, they would much rather have high (commodity) prices than government support. So, it does become a little bit of a mixed bag, but I always remain optimistic that this market will bounce back.”
And while the monthly AEM sales reports track overall tractor and combine sales in the U.S., there’s a chance other machine classes, like planters, air seeders, sprayers, and tillage tools, are faring better at the moment.
“We actually find if a farmer is not updating the large row crop tractor, they may instead be investing in some new seeding equipment or even upgrading the existing equipment that they already have,” Blades said. “We’re seeing that happening very strongly in the sprayer market, too, where retrofit and aftermarket technology can be tacked onto machines to get a little bit more life out of them.”
Asked what guidance his association is doling out to its farm machine building members, Blades said the “numbers are what they are” at this point, but most manufacturers projected this downturn and have responded proactively by slowing production and, unfortunately, right-sizing their labor pools.
“Our advice to everyone — farmers, manufacturers — is to plan ahead and to make sure that you’re thinking about what your needs are, and not just next year but for the next three years, and have a solid plan in place so that you are able to acquire new machines when you need them.”
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