Used farm equipment on the rise

(ABC 6 News) – Farmers have had a tough year. They’ve had to manage the drought and supply chain problems.

Now, used farm equipment is on the rise, causing many farmers to pay for equipment that they say is way too expensive.

"Used farm equipment is going to stay at an all-time high for quite a while," Greg Peterson, founder of Machinery Pete said.

Greg also goes by the name Machinery Pete. He works in Rochester and has a website dedicated to tracking and researching auction prices for used farm equipment.

He’s been crunching numbers for over 30 years and says the John Deere strike and the supply chain issues have made it hard for farmers to find equipment that they need.

He says used farm equipment has been on the rise since late 2019 and it took off when commodity prices rose in fall 2020. Now, he says this year is a storm and farmers are trying to find their way through it.

"Farm equipment manufacturers like John Deere can’t make enough new equipment that the farmers want to buy. So that pushes farmers back into the used market and at the same time farm equipment dealers across the country have the lowest used inventory I’ve seen in over three decades," Peterson said.

For example, Greg says a 2013 John Deere tractor with 338 hours on it sold for $317,000 on Saturday in Indiana. Record high auction price is $235,000.

Peterson says costs for different parts are on the rise too.

"Our dealer friends around the Midwest and beyond say they may have had a new combine on the lot that they could have sold but they were keeping it back and stripping the parts to keep their key farmer customers running this fall. That tells you dealers are worried they can’t get the new tractors and combines," Peterson said.

Greg says he expects prices and values of used equipment to go up by the end of the year and he says they will stay like that for quite a while.

He says if you need a piece of equipment to buy it before it’s too late.

"I’ve been doing this for 32 years. If you need a piece of equipment, buy it quickly," Peterson said.