2022 is nearly over and it's been a bizarre year. We covered a lot, including how ongoing supply chain issues are impacting inventories, the CNHI-UAW strike and the war in Ukraine. To celebrate the arrival of the new (and hopefully improved) year, here's a list of the most popular items we’ve published at AgEquipmentIntelligence.com in 2022.
1. ONGOING COVERAGE: CNH-UAW Strike News
We kept a close eye on the still ongoing (as of this article's publishing) strike by UAW-represented workers at
2 CNH Industrial factories.
Over 1,000 CNH Industrial workers in Racine, Wis., and Burlington, Iowa, went on strike at 12PM CST, May 2, 2022.
Our last update on Nov. 30 covered the strike hitting its 7-month mark. According to an article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the CNHI-UAW strike is one of the largest and longest strikes in the country and the two sides are so far apart that the bargaining committee has not brought a proposal to union membership to be voted on.
In a statement, CNH said the company is "disappointed that despite our best efforts we have been unable to reach a tentative agreement for our employees."
"Our last, best and final offer for our Racine, WI and Burlington, IA plants included significant wage increases, the addition of three new and different healthcare plans to choose from and many other enhanced benefits. Since April and throughout the UAW-initiated strike, we have been negotiating in good faith to reach an agreement that is fair and reasonable to our employees, our company and our customers."
Click here to visit our ongoing coverage.
2. Manufacturers, Dealers React to War in Ukraine
Feb. 28, 2022
The Russo-Ukrainian War began Feb. 24, 2022, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and caused a series of problems for ag equipment manufacturers, dealers and farmers operating in the country. Coverage at the time from Aljazeera said Russian forces had entered Ukraine from three sides and begun their attack on the Ukrainian capital of Kiev.
We catalogued press releases from various manufacturers and dealers in the industry and reached out for clarification on how their operations might be affected. Overall, we heard from 19 ag equipment companies and how they would address the war's impact on their operations.
Click here to read more.
3. John Deere Loses Planter Patent Lawsuit Against AGCO
July 11, 2022
According to a verdict filed July 8, 2022, a Delaware jury found John Deere failed to prove certain Precision Planting products infringed on Deere's patents.
The jury decided against John Deere in two cases of patent infringement John Deere brought against AGCO's Precision Planting SpeedTube and vSet2 products and how their combination with AGCO planters amounted to alleged patent infringement, specifically Deere's ExactEmerge planter technology.
The original complaint was filed over 4 years ago on June 1, 2018, when John Deere claimed that, "when one of Precision Planting’s vSet Products is combined with Precision Planting’s SpeedTube product, the combination infringes Deere’s patents."
Click here to read more.
4. John Deere to Crop Input Companies: 'Your Margin is My Opportunity'
Aug. 22, 2022
Upstream Ag Insights Analyst Thomas Shane shared his thoughts back in August regarding Deere's potential to absorb margin from crop input companies through its precision offerings.
At John Deere’s Leaps Analyst event there was an emphasis that their new technologies are going to “unlock” $150 billion in total market benefit to farmers. Some of this might be in new value creation by enabling precision harvest management (eg: less harvest losses) on their combines for example, but some of it will come from cutting out certain expenses of farmers, like crop protection product waste, directly hindering crop input manufacturers sales and margins. Deere has been building out tools that are centered around the future of farming, not what it has historically been.
Click here to read more.
5. Ukrainian Tractor Factory Destroyed in Bombing
March 4, 2022
According to a Feb. 28, 2022, report from Agroportal24h, the Kharkiv Tractor Plant, a manufacturer of wheeled and track-type tractors, was destroyed and “engulfed in fire” by “massive shelling” from Russian forces in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. The report stated the city of Kharkiv was likely targeted for bombing “because it is the second most populous city in Ukraine, one of the largest industrial centers and the main center of the Ukrainian military industry.”
According to the Kharkiv Tractor Plant’s website, it manufactures a XTZ series of wheeled tractors out of its Kharkiv facility, ranging from 180-250 horsepower depending on the model.
Click here to read more.
6. If Fendt Leads AGCO's Track Tractor Sales, What's Challenger's Future?
Aug. 22, 2022
During AGCO's July 28 earnings call for its 2Q22 earnings, Chairman, President and CEO Eric Hansotia said the company plans to grow the Fendt brand through two avenues: expanding the Fendt product lineup and taking the brand global, saying, "Interest is growing in our premium Fendt product lines in both North and South America. Our Fendt-branded sales in the first half of 2022 have increased over 20% compared to the first half of 2021. And we expect these growth rates to improve in the second half based on our current production plan."
Hansotia followed this up by saying that both the company's Fendt and Challenger sales are expected to double in 2022 vs. 2020 and that the company aims to double them again in the next 5-7 years.
The forecast growth in Challenger sales comes over a year after AGCO's statement to Ag Equipment Intelligence that it would only accept “retail orders” for Challenger equipment from its dealers going forward.
Click here to read more.
7. Midwest Machinery Acquires Frontier Ag & Turf & SEMA Equipment
Jan. 6, 2022
Midwest Machinery Co., a John Deere dealership in central Minnesota announced on Jan. 6 an agreement to acquire 2 multi-location John Deere dealerships: Frontier Ag & Turf and SEMA Equipment Inc. Frontier Ag & Turf consisted of 3 locations in Wisconsin: New Richmond, Turtle Lake and Osceola, and 4 locations in Minnesota: Hastings, Rosemount, Cannon Falls and Columbus. SEMA Equipment Inc. consisted of 6 locations in Minnesota: Grand Meadow, Plainview, St. Charles, Wanamingo, Northfield and Caledonia.
Click here to read more.
8. AGCO to Consolidate Massey Ferguson Dealers, Expand Fendt Network
Nov. 9, 2022
In a Nov. 9 note to investors, JP Morgan analysts broke down the highlights of their meeting with AGCO CFO Damion Audia and VP of Investor Relations Greg Peterson at SIMA in Paris, France.
AGCO has spoken before about repositioning the Massey Ferguson brand and at SIMA, said they plan to target budget cautious farmers with it. They also plan to reduce its product offering, from 18 tractor series currently to 10 by next year. AGCO will also consolidate the North American network of 500 dealers (200 of which have only one location) without reducing its total number of touchpoints "by expanding relationships with larger dealers willing to commit to long term growth and goals that align with AGCO’s strategy."
AGCO also told JP Morgan analysts it planned to double Massey Ferguson sales by 2025 compared to 2020.
Click here to read more.
9. AGCO Puts Plan in Place to Promote Dealer Growth
May 20, 2022
In this episode of On the Record we took a look at AGCO's Transformational Assessment Process (TAP) for its North American production ag dealers. In the Technology Corner, Michaela Paukner examined how CNH Industrial and John Deere's tech stacks compare.
Click here to watch.
10. Case IH Dealers React to UAW Strike at 2 CNH Plants
May 6, 2022
In this episode, we took a look at what Case IH dealers said about the UAW strike at CNH Industrial's Racine, Wis., and Burlington, Iowa, plants. In the Technology Corner Michaela Paukner visited with Sam Christianson from Titan Machinery about their partnership with Augmenta Systems. Also in this episode CNH and AGCO reported sales growth in the first quarter and our Dealer Optimism Index hit its 9th month in a row with a negative reading.
Click here to watch.
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