With commodity prices markedly higher, farmers around the nation are capitalizing on the prosperity and investing in and upgrading their machinery, according to published accounts.
Combine sales in October 2010 were 24 percent than they were in October 2009 while sales of tractors for all of 2010 have increased in excess of 5,000 from last year. Sales of four-wheel-drive tractors, which are larger and more expensive, have increased nearly 27 percent for year to date. And corn and soybean prices are 60 percent higher now than they were in June.
"The ag economy is strong right now compared to the general economy, and that breeds new investment," Brent Carpenter, an analyst with the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute at the University of Missouri, told the Cattle Network.
Joe Spatafora, a farmer who recently was shopping for a new combine in Missouri, said the past three-plus years have been good to farmers and their crops. He said even the amount of rain has been sufficient, also noting he wants to continue moving forward by keeping his equipment modern.
"Farmers are replacing and buying new and larger equipment, which is showing up not only in strong sales for larger tractors, combines and pickups but also grain bins and computers," Carpenter said.
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