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By Ed White
REGINA, Saskatchewan, April 3 (Reuters) - Farm machinery salespeople are wrapping up a dismal season of farm shows across North America as farmers gear up for spring planting without much new equipment.
Farmers have not stopped buying, but many have slashed spending and are avoiding big-ticket items due to high machinery, fertilizer and fuel prices, as well as a global grains glut pushing down crop prices.
"They might not buy the million-dollar combine, but they’ll buy a $100,000 implement," said Chad Jones of manufacturer Degelman Industries, standing among his company’s rockpickers, harrows, rippers and other yellow-painted equipment at Canada’s Farm Show in March.
Farmers are still spending money, but far less than in other years, according to sales data from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, the organization that represents big players in the North American industry.
The group told Reuters that sales of big-ticket items like tractors and combines were down between 30% and 40% in the U.S. in March compared to a year ago.
Farm machinery sales have been hammered by a squeeze on farmer finances exacerbated by U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war tariffs that have escalated the production cost of already-expensive machines like tractors and combines. These items, known by farmers as "big iron," are manufactured from large amounts of steel and often with imported components.
The Trump administration is reported to be planning a 25% tariff on the value of finished imported goods that contain steel and aluminum, rather than just 50% on the metals content of those goods. That will likely raise the overall price of those products. However, goods that are mostly made from steel and aluminum, including tractors and combines, will still face the 50% tariff that has been in place for almost a year.
In its most recent quarterly earnings call, a John Deere official said the company estimates tariffs will cost it $1.2 billion in 2026, and that not all of 2025’s tariff costs had been passed on to farmers.
Last Friday, Trump called on the manufacturers to cut prices in order to help farmers.
But for the beleaguered industry, Trump’s tariffs are the problem. The easiest way to bring the cost of machinery down would be "to significantly scale back on the tariffs that are hitting the manufacturers, and the retaliatory tariffs that are hitting farmers," said Kip Eideberg of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers.
Trade fights have hurt U.S. crop export sales, with China absent from the U.S. soybean exports market for months, depressing North American crop prices and creating huge stockpiles.
"They were looking at profitability being very tight to even potentially negative for the upcoming growing season, and this has led to slower decisions on equipment replacement," said Farm Credit Canada economist Leigh Anderson. Farmers have delayed planned purchases, hanging on to aging equipment for longer, he said.
Signs of that lack of interest could be seen at the farm show in Regina, with few farmers kicking the tires of tractors and other large machinery. Despite over 5,000 people attending the show, many of the equipment displays were relatively quiet.
"It’s fair to characterize it as purchasing behavior shifting from wants to needs," said Eideberg of AEM. Fertilizer and machinery production costs are hard to reduce once they have risen, which is why the AEM is hoping to see tariffs chopped.
"That’s the immediate relief that will make a significant difference for farmers and manufacturers," said Eideberg.
