Strong finish to machinery market in 2022 with another positive year expected

The trend towards capitalising on high commodity prices and tax incentives continued and more than 19,000 new tractors are expected to be sold by the time December 31 rolls around.

For the second year in a row more than 1000 harvesters were sold as farmers look to increase their productivity and get the crop off faster.

RDO Equipment agriculture and turf operations general manager Jeff Jaques said it has been a period of upgrade, particularly in the broadacre and large-scale farming sectors.

Mr Jaques said they had seen large increases over previous years' sales numbers in terms of both units and dollars.

In short, it has been a very positive result for Australia's largest John Deere dealership network.

"The larger tractors, which in many cases were ordered many months ago, are arriving and being delivered over the last few months and into next year," Mr Jaques said.

"We've also seen the mid 100 to 200 horsepower tractors significantly increase.

"The small tractors have increased also, the compact lifestyle tractor size and larger size in the small sector for horticulture particularly."

It has been a similar story for one of the country's largest New Holland dealership networks.

McIntosh & Son Southern Group general manager Devon Gilmour said harvester sales had been the flavour of the month in his region.

Mr Gilmour said headers had been very popular but required a higher level of support than other products and that was where quality back-up parts and service teams shine.

"More generally sales have been up, provided you can get stock, we put a program in place some two and a half years ago to make sure we had continuing supply coming through from the factories," he said.

"It's made a big difference having that product available."

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Mr Jaques said whether it was for cotton, sugar or grain, harvester sales had been strong.

He said be it tractors or harvesters, farmers were trying to do more with less.

"The buyers are probably going for a higher horsepower, higher capacity machine than what they might have in the past," Mr Jaques said.

"I think they are taking that opportunity to increase the capacity of the machines they buy."

The nation's largest Case IH dealership network has also had a positive year according to O'Connors group sales development manager, Tom Sheridan.

Mr Sheridan said sales have been consistent across the board, with the exception of hay equipment.

He said they had seen farmers trying to secure machinery as it was coming through and trying to beat the challenges of the fickle price market.

"We've definitely seen some customers pre-price rise buying and try to map out their machinery requirement over the next two or three years," he said.

Price rises have occurred throughout the sector, as have shipping delays.

Mr Jaques said a combination of factors were behind price rises including increased component, input and freight costs as well as labour.

He said more recently the exchange rate had also impacted pricing.

"The price is significantly more that it has been, even 12 to 18 months ago," Mr Jaques said.

"There is some resistance to the higher pricing but offsetting that is the lack of used equipment in the market for an alternative.

"They know you have to make a decision based on availability and that's been the case in the last few months particularly but it will be going into next year again with shortages expected."

Mr Sheridan agreed, saying price rises were the result of a number of factors.

"Whether it's machinery, fertiliser or any inputs, we are in a price volatile market at the moment and it's frustrating to have to keep going back to the market with that news but we are just trying to keep our customers as informed as we can with the information we have at hand," he said.

When it comes to factory and shipping delays, Mr Sheridan said they were doing everything they could to try and support their customers.

"You find yourself having to let down customers, even when all good intentions were made and working toward a realistic date but unfortunately a lot of things outside our control have come into play," he said.

Coming up with contingency plans in the midst of delays has been a top focus for the McIntosh & Son team as well.

"The guarantee of product arrival dates has been very ordinary so we are trying to manage product that is supposed to be arriving, that doesn't end up arriving and making sure we have contingencies in place to make sure our customers have an alternative option available until their order arrives," Mr Gilmour said.

Mr Jaques said the availability of reliable freight should improve later next year but there was no guarantee and the experience this year had been very frustrating.

"We've just had to deal with it and thankfully most of our customers have been aware of it also and are working with us to try and do the best we can for delivery accuracy," he said.

Seasonal conditions have been exceptional in some regions but for others the rain was just too much.

Mr Sheridan expected harvest in Victoria and NSW would run into January and the focus would quickly shift to spraying and planting.

"It's going to be positive in some areas but really disappointing and heartbreaking for some others," he said.

"I'm sure it is going to be a very chaotic couple of months and hopefully we can all get a break at the end of seeding."

On the Darling Downs there was still harvest taking place in early December, which would normally be finished, and cotton still being picked.

Mr Jaques said while yields had been high, quality had dropped off.

He said farmers might not be able to get their next crop in the ground and they would likely be late, if they were planted at all.

Mr Gilmour said it had been another unbelievable season in Western Australia on the back of two good seasons.

"I don't think we've seen seasons and prices for commodities like what we're seeing before," he said.

"Certainly inputs are up but overall people are pretty buoyant about the agricultural industry and the future."

Moving forward Mr Gilmour said people and labour would be the greatest challenge for the agricultural industry.

Mr Jaques said over the past 12 to 18 months there had been no real downtime for services and support staff.

He said the seasonality of the business was not what it had previously been and they had seen seasons flow into the next season.

"We have not had the time to give our technicians and parts people particularly that break that we would have traditionally had," he said.

"That's put a lot of pressure on maintaining a high level of service, when you are already down in service capacity due to a shortage of qualified technicians.

"If we could fill the gap of our vacant roles we would be able to spread the load more evenly."

All three men agreed there was plenty to be excited about across the agricultural sector in the years to come.

"It's really exciting to be in such a great spot in agriculture; it's pleasing to see more parts of families come home and live in small country towns," Mr Sheridan said.

"We're seeing agriculture isn't on the nose and it is good to see it in all facets being positive."