Ag Minute: Equipment Dealers - Riding the Waves of the Ag Economy
- Sangamon County News
- Sep 5
- 3 min read
Agricultural equipment dealerships have long been a staple of farming communities across the U.S., sporting their manufacturers’ logos on large storefront billboards. The equipment on dealer’s lots has changed immensely over the years as has ownership of many of the businesses. While others have spanned multiple generations of the same family ownership, retaining the same farming families as customers that they built trust with over many years. Dealerships have been around for a very long time, with the oldest John Deere dealership dating back to 1899 in Winamac, Indiana. The Gilsinger Implement Company began as a general store selling John Deere equipment and eventually evolved into a dedicated farm equipment dealership. While Gilsinger Implement merged with GreenMark Equipment, Inc. in 2014, visitors to northwest Indiana can visit the Gilsinger Museum, dedicated to preserving the history of the family owned John Deere business. Riechmann Bros. LLC, located in Okawville, stakes a claim as the oldest John Deere dealership in Illinois. Founded in 1922, the dealership has been run by the Riechmann family for three generations.
Today, many dealerships may sell several different brands at once, but their core typically lies with one of four main manufacturers. John Deere, CNH Industrial, AGCO, and Claas are the four major row crop equipment manufacturers, with most Americans able to recognize the colors of each brand. Some farmers are so brand loyal that they proclaim to “bleed green” or they’ll joke, “if it ain’t red, leave it in the shed.” John Deere, Case IH (CNH), New Holland (CNH), Massey Ferguson (AGCO), Fendt (AGCO), Gleaner (AGCO) and Claas fight for market share with each of their products daily, and dealerships provide the mechanism to move new equipment out of the factory and keep used equipment in circulation. Some of the large equipment dealers in Central Illinois include;
John Deere:
Sloan Implement
AHW
Cross Implement Co
Case IH and New Holland:
Beard Implement
Sievers Equipment Company
Jenner Ag Inc
Fendt, Massey Ferguson, and Gleaner
Altorfer
Parallel Ag Upper Midwest
Claas
Altorfer
Manufacturers of smaller equipment like Kubota and Mahindra can also be found throughout the area, however the previous seven companies round out the primarily large, row crop equipment that exists across Illinois and the greater Midwest area.
Parallel to consumers of cars or houses, high interest rates and a bad economy can reduce equipment sales significantly. While the cost of goods may increase in grocery stores and the marketplace, few consumers face income swings as volatile as farmers. Because of the wild income swings and volatile input prices of agriculture, most farmers are fairly selective about when to purchase equipment, whether it be new or used. A report from the Michigan Farm Bureau indicated that year to date, total agricultural tractor sales are down 9.9% from the previous year, with combine sales being down 43.4%. With the significant cost of modern equipment, dips in sales like this have dramatic impacts on John Deere, CNH, AGCO and Claas, and negatively affect local dealerships as well. Dealerships are typically able to project and expect annual sales cycles as shown on the graph below from the Michigan Farm Bureau (Figure 1), but prolonged periods of a poor agricultural economy can leave them unable to move inventory off of the lots. Factories are still trying to keep their doors open by producing new equipment, but dealerships are left with a backlog of new and used equipment that they must absorb the cost of.
Farmers may feel like dealers try to make as much money off of them as they can; however, there is a largely symbiotic relationship between the two groups. Better farm economies, such as what was experienced in 2022, produce more cash and certainty of the near future for farmers, allowing them to spend more and upgrade the equipment that they rely on. Poorer or more uncertain economic conditions such as what is currently happening for farmers slow producer spending on large equipment like tractors and combines. In turn, this slows revenues and growth for dealerships and leaves large inventories of equipment that lose value while sitting on the lot. Dealers rely on their customers’ success to be able to succeed themselves, something that can be incredibly frustrating for all of the shareholders in a volatile agricultural economy.
Figure 1: Graph from the Michigan Farm Bureau showing U.S. Retail Sales of 2-4WD Tractors and Combines
For more information on the oldest John Deere dealership, follow the link below;
For more information on the report from the Michigan Farm Bureau, follow the link below;
