Last month, I stopped by Nebraska Equipment, a Case IH dealer based in Seward, Neb., to discuss hiring in the precision industry with sales manager Kenny Pekarek. The timing of the visit was fitting, as the dealership was just one week into hiring its first precision intern, not coincidentally during the heart of planting season.
In today’s newscast, AGCO reveals its Ideal combine to North America — the first “clean-sheet” design of an axial combine in the industry in decades. In this week’s Technology Corner segment, we take a look at the challenges dealers face in recruiting and retaining precision service technicians. We also take a look at how large ag equipment sales rebounded in May and how Deere’s retail sales compared to the industry average, the changes in machinery values on Illinois farms over the last 10 years and a deterioration of European dealer sentiment in June.
For the third year in a row, U.S. dealers are forecasting fewer additions to their precision farming departments, according to Ag Equipment Intelligence’s 2017 Dealer Business Outlook & Trends report.
In today’s newscast, we report on CNH Industrial’s purchase of the Soil & Grass line of Kongskilde, the latest Ag Economy Barometer reading from Purdue University and the Center for Commercial Agriculture, dealers’ precision hiring plans for 2017 and the third quarter earnings reports for CNH Industrial and Trimble.
At the pinnacle of the precision farming boom, technology specialists were in high demand, while supply was relatively low. But as the farm machinery market has slowed, so too have precision hiring plans for most OEM dealers according to Ag Equipment Intelligence’s 2016 Dealer Business Outlook & Trends report.
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In this episode of On the Record, brought to you by Benzi America, we take a look at results of the 2024 Brand Loyalty study. In the Technology Corner, we examine how USDA’s use of ag data raises privacy concerns.