If you’ve been in the market for used equipment, you know it’s undergone a dramatic shift since 2023. Whether as a buyer or a seller, the prices of used equipment within the row crop sector have dropped more than 20% in that time, marking one of the largest declines in history. Used equipment values for high-horsepower equipment have stabilized in 2025, but it’s a surprising trend at risk of reversing, especially if commodity prices continue to fall.
According to the Machinery Pete website, the price of used high-horsepower tractors fell between 18% and 23% from 2023/24 levels. Machinery Pete says the biggest surprise during the first seven months of 2025 is the fact used equipment prices have stabilized.
“After the huge rate of drop we saw in 2024, which mirrored the biggest drop I’ve ever seen back in 2014 to 2015, I thought it would keep sliding a little bit longer,” says Greg Peterson, who’s also known as Machinery Pete. “Instead, it has leveled off through the first half of the year. That, to me, has been the biggest surprise this year.”
The Catalyst for the Dramatic Drop
The catalyst for the dramatic drop in used equipment values in 2024 was the amount of used equipment flooding the auction market.
“It was a total supply issue,” Pete says. “For dealers, when the sales of new [equipment] slow down, the merry-go-round slows down. Then you’re paying 8% interest on this hugely expensive, late-model stuff sitting on your lot. The pressure just builds up.
The trifecta of a lack of buyers, too much equipment on dealer lots and high interest caused dealers to offload equipment on the auction market. That exposed a tough reality starting last year: strains in the farm economy meant not as many farmers were in the market to buy.
“I’ve seen it through different cycles. It’s just right now with the dollars involved in 2024, I’ve never seen dealers collectively be as aggressive as they were. Now, it’s easier for them to be aggressive because there’s fewer of them — but it was very painful for them, and there was a lot of loss,” Pete explains.
Why Used Equipment Prices Have Stabilized in 2025
The trend shifted in 2025, largely because the volume of equipment from dealers at auction hasn’t been the same this year. Prices have stabilized in 2025, but now the question is if they’ll stay that way.
“My gut and the data are telling me that used equipment values are still holding. So, unless there’s an uptick in the volume of large, late-model equipment — which could happen — or if new sales on high horsepower or large, new equipment like planters or sprayers continue to be soft, that will create more pressure on dealers possibly to move that excess used,” Pete says.
“Watching a Knife Fall”
Alex Kerr, owner of Kerr Auction and Kerr Equipment, owns one of the fastest growing auction companies across the U.S., hosting auctions in six states. Kerr is seeing the shift in equipment values first-hand, and like Machinery Pete, he’s also seeing used equipment prices find footing in 2025.
“I feel like we had flattened,” Kerr says. “In March of 2024, it was like watching a knife fall. If you were going off the balance sheet, using the value of your one- and two-year-old equipment, you lost 40% so fast that you couldn’t hardly write it down.”
Kerr says once the flood of used equipment from dealer lots quit hitting the auction market after 2024, values found footing and started to stabilize in 2025.
“Everybody just kind of pumped the brakes,” Kerr says. “Now we’re waiting to see if we’re going to have a demand spike. So, if for some reason grain would jump or interest would soften, maybe we could go back up. But at the moment, it really looks like we’re headed the other way, and we could start sliding again. But we had kind of planed out for a while.”
Financial Pressure Mounts
The ag economic picture doesn’t seem to be improving on the row crop side, Commodity prices continued to slide last week, while prices of important inputs — such as fertilizer —continued to climb from recent highs.
“We’re certainly feeling some pressure. Fortunately, we were able to come into the difficult season that we’re in right now with strong liquidity reserves that were built the prior two to three years. However, we are definitely seeing some pressure at this time,” says Josh Babb, a financial officer in Illinois with Compeer Financial.
Babb works with farmers across western Illinois, and with high input prices, it’s adding to the financial pinch farmers are feeling and seeing right now.
“In most situations, $4 corn price is going to be below break-even numbers for most operations. So yes, there is concern there,” Babb says. “However, we are built and structured in a way we want to be a resource for our clients, both in good times and the bad. So one thing we would really emphasize to our growers, and I really emphasize to my clients, is let’s be in communication. Let’s talk through this now. Don’t wait for it to become a problem. Let’s talked through it now and start putting a plan in place to navigate this.”
Kerr says the most surprising trend he’s seeing in Illinois is the difference between farmers who are in a strong financial position and able to buy equipment, versus farmers who have a high break-even cost and aren’t in a position to make large investments.
“What’s been surprising is the divergence between the typical farmer who farms a lot of acres, maybe rents a lot of ground — they just shut off from buying. They went cold,” Kerr says. “Then, you have the smaller farmer who maybe owns everything he farms and doesn’t have any kind of debt problems. They are very specific about what they buy, and they like the smaller, high-quality equipment. Demand for that stuff hasn’t backed off.”
Prices Could Explode
Kerr says for those farmers in a position to purchase equipment, there are some value buys out there today.
“Right now, anything within five years old is a really, really good buy,” Kerr says. “And if you’re one of the guys in the position to buy, you better buy it because the next leg up will be dramatic.”
Kerr says he doesn’t know what the catalyst will be for the next big shift in used equipment values, but last time it was post-Covid.
“This market is like a volleyball being held under water. And when it explodes, you’re going to see used tractors selling for $650,000 to %700,000. And the reason for that is the new ones have just kept going up in price while we’re all on the pause button. We’ve also stopped selling so many new ones. As the dealers quit rolling, instead of having a glut of tractors when the money supply finally shows up, the supply of used equipment will not be there.”
Kerr says when the pendulum shifts back the other way, and used equipment values trend higher, many buyers will be shocked how high used equipment values will go. Because unless a farmer has been in the market for a new piece of machinery lately, they don’t realize how high new equipment values have risen. That will force more buyers back to used.
Livestock Equipment Values Are Strong
Machinery Pete says the one sector of used equipment that’s seeing higher values today is good, used loader tractors.
“You’re getting into the livestock and dairy sectors where the times have been better. Auction pricing has been very strong. Not quite as high as it was in 2021 and 2022, but still holding up very solid,” Pete says. “We just saw a record price on a 24 model John Deere 6R145 last Wednesday. Hardly any hours on a loader, but it went $19,000 over the record auction price. So, we see that commonly now with that livestock-related equipment that’s holding up pretty well.”
Pete says the other segment that is continuing to post strong values it the pre-DEF equipment.
“That equipment is almost getting a little stronger,” he says. “Now the dollars are tight. But for farmers, it’s all relative. So, when a new one costs this much, and there’s a low-hour 13-, 14- or 15-year-old one, it’s not two people that want it. It’s like seven people. And then the pricing holds very strong.”
