Moving Iron hosts Casey Seymour and Greg “Machinery Pete” Peterson think we’ll see a wave of farm retirement and estate auctions across the back half of 2025.
And the two used equipment auction experts project farmers will buy more late-model (1- or 2-year-old) tractors and combines at auction in the months ahead. MachineryPete.com auction data shows good condition, used, late-model machines are “definitely solidifying” in value, Pete says.
“Even loader tractors, three or four months ago we talked about the stagnation of the loader tractor market and how we were surprised by that,” Seymour adds. “Now we’re starting to see that market break loose and move forward. We’re seeing those 130 to 170 horsepower loader tractors really start to peak up.”
Machinery Pete says another segment of farm equipment that “has ramped up 5x here in the last 18 months” is anything pre-DEF. A recent Big Iron Auctions online sale moved a 2008 John Deere 7730 tractor with 16,161 hours on it (shown above) for $150,250. It is the fourth-highest price ever recorded at auction for that specific machine.
Pete is also seeing values firm up on used grain carts, trailers and augers as fall harvest season draws closer.
“Considering where profit levels are for grain farmers, I would say it’s honestly a little bit higher than I would have guessed coming off Q4 2024,” Pete says.
Looking ahead, Seymour and Pete will be keeping a close eye on the upcoming Kerr Auctions Aug. 14 export sale; the guys are hoping to get a read on the used farm equipment export business. They are also teaming up for a live Q&A at Randy Dowdy and David Hula’s Yield Academy 2025 event in Rochester, Minn., on Aug. 21.
Check out Machinery Pete’s video preview:
The rest of the episode
Aaron Fintel, used equipment specialist, 21st Century Equipment, joined Seymour to chat about how auction values are changing on used combines and how that segment has changed from last year. Used combine inventories have experienced a seasonal uptick, while tractors, sprayers and planters have cooled off a bit.
“I can remember being a kid there would always be that harvest sale, there wasn’t the big end-of-year splash or the mega March pre-plant auctions like there are now,” Fintel says. “Even back then there was the ‘Let’s wax that old UFT grain cart and haul her down to the lot and let’s see if we can break even.’ That’s always been a thing.”
Shawn Hackett, Hackett Financial, provided an update on summer weather patterns and how the heat wave in the Midwest could affect commodity prices and yields heading into fall harvest.
“My expectation is (USDA) is going to raise (corn) yields to 183.5 bu. per acre here in August and by the time we get to October they are probably going to move those yields down to 180-ish or 178.5 bu. per acre,” Hackett says. “Still a very good crop, but the difference between 183.5 and 178.5 is the difference between projecting 2 billion bushel carryout and 1.4 billion bushel carryout. And the difference between those two measures is the difference between low $4 corn and upper $4 corn.”
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