Casey Seymour and Greg “Machinery Pete” Peterson are encouraged by what they are seeing from farmers-buyers and dealers in the used farm equipment market.
On the farmer side of the coin, Pete says they are using auction price data to understand market dynamics and find good deals for the equipment they need to run their operations. Once commodity prices rebound, he sees momentum building for an explosion of farmer buying activity on dealer lots and at auctions.
“It’s a powder keg sitting there waiting to go off, and that’s where if you’re able to through the rest of the year into ’26, be aggressive and call your dealer about any used equipment on lots you’re looking at updating,” Pete says. “It’s still a good time to do that.”
And on the dealer side of things, Seymour and Pete think increased dealer consolidation has imparted greater efficiency and bounce back upside into the network. There are currently 203 farm equipment dealers with five or more retail stores in North America, so these larger, professional dealer organizations can respond to market forces faster and more effectively today.
“A decade ago, when there were more owners with two, three, four stores, they kind of had to hold on and hope for better days, but it’s just so much more efficient right now,” says Pete.
Seymour and Pete also agree hay tools and livestock equipment — like utility loader tractors — are trending up. That’s because cattle ranchers have enjoyed a solid year profitwise, while row crop farmers are still stuck in a down cycle. And the gap between auction and dealer lot prices has tightened up, leading more farmers to explore both options before pulling the trigger on a buy.
“It’s the tale of two tapes there, but when I’m looking at how things are moving along, that space in between $50,000 to $150,000 and maybe up to $200,000, is really, really attractive [to buyers],” says Seymour. “And a lot of that has to do with, we’re at the bottom of the marketplace.”
Commodities Market Update
Rich Posson, host of the Critical Point podcast, joined Seymour to talk about the general state of the economy and Wall Street as “stagflation” continues to curtail growth in the economy.
“My model is willing to lean on the side of a growing GDP into 2027, but at the same time it’s suggesting this inflation has turned a corner — you can’t see it that way that much yet — but it looks like it’s ready to recover going into next year,” Posson says, adding he’s concerned inflation will actually get worse in 2026 before it goes down in 2027.
What’s Happening on the High Plains?
Dealer sales of new and used hay tools — like balers, windrowers and rakes — were a mixed bag this year, according to Aaron Fintel, used equipment specialist, 21st Century Equipment.
“We had a pretty good flow with new windrowers, and that second [year] never hit the lot and the third was sold right away,” Fintel says. “Balers have not been what I thought they would be this year — there’s been used 3x4s that we get in; those have sold pretty good. And new round balers were quiet this year.”
Fintel adds that forage choppers, typically a machinery segment he jokes an equipment salesman “runs away from” at the dealer level, were a pleasant surprise and sold strong all year long.
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