Increasing Combine Supply Creates Buying Opportunity for Farmers

Combine supply in the market has steadily risen over the past six months, creating an opportunity for farmers looking to upgrade machines.

While inventory of different sizes are increasing, Class 8s are piling up the fastest, with John Deere’s S780 at the top of the list. Granted, many farmers are focused on getting the crops in the ground this time of year. But when that rainy day hits, set up a saved search on Tractor Zoom so you don’t miss out on the right used combine for your operation this year.

Combine Supply Trends

Supply at dealerships and auctions fluctuates per season, especially for combines. March, December, and August are the biggest auction months for combines, in that order. This past August, we started to see auction volume pick up, and that return of supply persisted into the end-of-year auction season.

It’s no coincidence that dealerships move a lot of combines in these months because farmers have more available time or are incentivized to purchase. In addition, dealerships having purchased new combines from manufacturers cascades a series of trade-ins. Just this past February, new combine sales in North America jumped 247% over last year, as reported by AEM. Most of the time, this domino effect of trades ultimately results in a harvester or two at auction.

In this cycle, dealerships typically work to decrease their supply as they approach the end of the year. Tight supply over the past couple of years has made excess inventory a non-issue. Oftentimes, combines on trade were spoken for well before they ever arrived on the market.

Too little supply, though, limits the industry. Dealerships help with this limitation and provide a huge service to agriculture by carrying a supply of equipment and facilitating equipment transactions to those who need them, not to mention service, parts, support, etc.

If an excess supply returns to the market, though, the cost of holding this equipment starts to eat into dealerships’ viability; a risk none of us have had to worry about for the past few years. Well, this is definitely changing now, and may present farmers with an opportunity to buy.

Combine Supply by Class

Segmenting all combines by Class indicates that Class 8 combines are rising in supply the fastest with the larger Classes 9 and 10 not far behind.

This could be a result of the segment of farmers looking for those larger late model, low hour combines slowing or pausing their purchasing decisions.

Within Class 8 combines, the fastest growing hour segment has been combines with less than 1,500 machine hours.

If your operation happens to be in the market for a combine that fits this description, then be sure to search Tractor Zoom to find your best option. You could have that harvester parked in your shed and ready to go well before harvest gets here. That’s something that we haven’t been able to say in a while!