Having tracked machinery values for three and a half decades, Greg Peterson, aka Machinery Pete, knows there are a lot of moving parts to watch.
“If you really boil it down, there are two canaries in the coal mine regarding used machinery values,” he offers.
Even in the recent months, which have seen all-time high values at auction for a tractor, combine, planter, corn head, seed tender, sprayer, disk and field cultivator, Peterson says farmers should keep these factors in perspective. Read More: 9 Machines That Set Auction Price Records
1. AUCTION PRICES
“We don’t know what a piece of used iron is worth until, bam, the gavel falls and someone has told us what they are writing the check for,” Peterson says.
Since last December, he’s been watching combines that are 1 to 4 years old. “At the end of last year, I started to see auctions where everything sold strong except the 3-year-old combine,” Peterson says.
Of all the machinery categories, he says that segment is the only one with values dipping in the first half of 2023.
2. DEALER SUPPLY
Consider auction prices and dealer supply together when analyzing used equipment values, Peterson says. This is especially true with supply chain delays and high commodity values. “Farmers don’t have access to spare machines from dealers, so they are buying extra used units as a hedge against downtime,” he says.
Margy Eckelkamp reports on the ag retail industry, machinery, technology and more.
