As commodity prices and tariffs complicate the farm profit equation, growers are still hitting used equipment auctions looking for bargains. And while late-model, low hour equipment is normally what most farmers chase, in this climate they’re increasingly open to older, high hour machines if the price and condition are both good.
“It’s that pre-def, under 5,000-hour, 175-hp tractor. Everybody shows up to watch that one sell, and there’s another tractor that has 8,000 hours and it’s going to go cheap enough they think they can get both,” says Machinery Pete.
Machinery Pete says a pair of recent transactions from the auction circuit highlight this trend:
- A nicely restored 1972 John Deere 4020 diesel shift tractor (below) sold for $57,500 on April 1 in Wisconsin.
- A 1970 Alice Chalmers 220 front-wheel assist tractor (below) sold for $56,500 at the same auction. Alice Chalmers only made 100 of that particular model.
Casey Seymour, who has more than 20 years of experience in the farm equipment auction space, says he would expect new and late-model used equipment prices to rise with the reciprocal Trump tariffs. Once a machine passes the five-year and older mark that’s where he can see pricing settle down and growers finding bargains.
Used Equipment Update From Parallel Ag
Timothy Walden is a used equipment manager covering the southern plains region for Parallel Ag, a seven-state AGCO/Fendt dealer with 12 dealer locations.
Walden says baler sales have been down in his area since the end of 2024. Big balers in particular have been very slow to move, especially high balers, while farmer demand for smaller, pull-type balers is up.
Tractor-wise, his market is one that usually moves a lot of mid-horsepower, loader type utility tractors, but Walden says those machines are slow to move. Higher horsepower tractors in the 200-300 hp range have picked up in terms of the number of quotes his sales team is writing, but there’s not a ton of buyer follow-through yet.
“It’s nice to have that (activity), but there’s just no urgency to buy right now,” Walden says. “We have to figure out what’s going to drive or create that urgency.”
He predicts buying activity in his market will stay slow through the end of this year before bumping back up in 2026.
“We’re starting to see some good things happen, but again, it’ll be twelve months before we see the fruits of that labor and are able to harvest it,” Walden adds.
Markets Update
Shawn Hackett expects cold weather will hit the Midwest right when this year’s corn and winter wheat crops will be emerging. That will mean more replant acres in May, and this weekend’s heavy rain forecast will further delay planting or even wipe out early plantings in the Corn Belt and Mid-South.
Hackett, who consults on commodities through his firm, Hackett Financial, expects corn ethanol crush levels will remain at 5 billion bushels for the next four years, and that should be positive for corn futures.
He is also seeing solid upside in the soybean crush market. Renewable fuel operations have leaned on used palm oil imports as a renewable fuel source but the tariffs will likely make that cost-prohibitive, creating a microburst of demand for soybean oil.
“That could tip the scale on soybeans being more constructive, and I think today’s price action is a wake-up that we need to pay attention to that dynamic,” he adds.
Talkin’ Tech
Seymour also talked with Farm Journal Machinery & Technology Editor Matthew J. Grassi about what farmers are looking at in the precision technology segment.
Retrofit technologies that can be added onto older machines, along with increasingly capable spray drones and all the accessories (drone tender trailers), as well as digital artificial intelligence programs that crunch data into actionable insights, are areas where ag tech is making inroads today.
“Technologies that cost $5,000 ten years ago, and you look at stuff that costs $5,000 today and it is just significantly better and bigger and everything else,” Seymour says. “It’s that wave of technology that comes through and, again, if the price is right, farmers are buying.”
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