Sales of farm equipment have been lagging for the past couple of years, but there seems to be a bit more optimism heading into 2017. Tom Junge of the Iowa-Nebraska Equipment Dealers Association says this fall’s record or near-record crop yields have improved the outlook. “Generally, there’s some optimism that maybe we’ve hit our low and we’re going to be bouncing back,” Junge said. “There has been some good activity after harvest because a lot of people had better-than-expected crops. So the bushels are going to help offset some of the lower commodity prices.”

Equipment dealer Steve Kayton, with Nebraska Equipment Inc. of Seward, Nebraska, says sales of big ticket items are still slow. “It seems like anything under $50,000, we’re getting a lot of interest in. But once you get over that 50-thousand dollar mark, people are kind of thinking about it,” Kayton said.

One of the challenges for dealers is the large number of equipment auctions in the country, according to Kayton. “There are so many auctions out there. People come in (to a dealership) and price a lot of things, but then they wait for that auction,” Kayton said. “It’s tough to compete against the auctions.”

But Kayton says their parts and service business has been excellent. Junge and Kayton made their comments at last week’s Nebraska Power Farming Show in Lincoln.

(Reporting by Ken Anderson, Brownfield Ag News)