The Association of Equipment Manufacturers says 2016 is continuing last year’s trend of growth in tractors under 40HP.  The report shows sales were up in February of this year 26.2 percent, compared to 2015.  The year-to-date growth is 19.7 percent.

2WD tractors between 40 and 100 HP are also up this year over last, with a growth of 5.8 percent in February and a year-to-date growth of minus .9 percent.  This segment is still showing a lot of volatility and expected declines in farm income, specifically the 4.3 percent decrease in livestock receipts, will be a challenge for this market category.

“Small farm tractors under 40HP continue to shine in the current environment and the Ag Tractor and Combine Reports are hinting that 2016 is gearing up to look a lot like 2015,” said Charlie O’Brien, AEM senior vice president.

Larger production agriculture farm equipment such as the 2WD 100HP continued its double-digit declines. Moving into 2016, the 4WD farm tractor segment declined by single digits in January; however, the February report revealed a 43.6 percent decline year over year. Both categories are seeing the result of the lower commodity prices and still suffer from the large amounts of used inventories in the marketplace.

“While the 2016 farm income reports released last month by the USDA still shows a slight decline in expected income, it does look more like a stabilization of the industry,” continued O’Brien. “Looking at the Farm Business (NCFI) income, aside from regional differences, it appears that the income was up for most crop farms and down for most livestock farms, providing new opportunities.”