Falling crop prices are leaving agriculture equipment sellers with an excess of unsold tractors and combines. To cope with the surplus, dealers are discounting machines, suspending new orders and even auctioning off equipment at reduced prices.
The slower equipment sales are a knock-on effect of corn and soy prices dropping to more than three-year lows as U.S. farm income plummets and equipment makers and dealers are forced to pivot quickly after a period of booming business.
Reuters interviewed ten equipment dealers, mostly in the Midwest, as well as farmers and analysts, who said low crop prices combined with persistently high interest rates are deterring farmers from purchasing machinery. As farmers make fewer purchases, inventories of equipment are swelling, cutting into profits for dealers and big manufacturers alike.
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