The Association of Equipment Manufacturers has released their 2010 outlook for agricultural machinery. It looks like an expectation of continued “continued weakness in U.S. and Canadian tractor sales.” This is comes from a survey they conduct of members. So although this year’s outlook is somewhat negative, future years look much better.
For all sizes of two-wheel tractors, however, the declines are expected to be less steep than 2009 losses. Double-digit decreases are expected for four-wheel-drive tractors, following relatively flat business in 2009. Combine sales are predicted to drop in the double digits for 2010 after 2009 sales growth. Sales of tractors and combines are then predicted to start rebounding through 2011 and 2012.
For other types of farm-related equipment covered in the AEM survey, overall 2010 demand for most products in the U.S. and Canada is expected to improve after 2009 business declines. All categories are predicted to be in the plus column for 2011 and 2012.
To tell us what’s new with John Deere I spoke to Matthew Arnold, Sr. Marketing Representative. Matthew was attending the NAFB Trade Talk to discuss the new 8R and 8RT tractors. These tractors range in horsepower from 225 to 345 with larger cabs and more fuel efficient engines. They also have a new suspension system on the 8RT Track models.
The new tractors were introduced to dealers in August and Matthew says the response has been great. The new cab is a feature that has really caught people’s attention since with the redesign the operator can swivel in the seat and have all the tractor’s command controls move with him.
You can listen to my interview with Matthew below:
Tom Dean is the Marketing Manager for high horsepower tractors at Case IH (seen here in his NAFB Trade Talk booth). He says those are classified as 100+ horsepower. He says what’s new is the Magnum CVT Line. CVT stands for Continuously Variable Transmission. He says the tractors are just now shipping this month.
They’re very simple to operate for any hired hand and very efficient. He says there are several models available in time for spring planting.
This is Chip Foose on a John Deere 4020 that he’s getting ready to customize. The tractor is the focal point of a new giveaway and purchase incentive program the company is offering in 2010. They’re calling it the Big Buck Sales Event.
I got a preview of what it’s all about at the recent NAFB Convention from Barry Nelson, Manager, Media Relations John Deere Ag and Turf Division. He explains that the company started building the 4020 in 1963 and stopped in 1972. 170,000 tractors were built. So, Deere partnered with Chip Foose to do his thing with the tractor and it will be given away next year.
Potential customers can register to win this vintage workhorse tractor from John Deere, or one of three John Deere Gators, by completing a registration form at their local John Deere dealership by June 30, 2010. No purchase or other obligation is required.
Barry says the finished custom tractor will be highlighted at several trade shows and John Deere events planned for the first half of 2010, including stops on the continuation of the Drive Green Utility Tractor Show. Winners of the tractor and Gators will be announced in July.
In addition to the giveaways he says John Deere is offering significant financial incentives on its 20-166 horsepower utility tractors from November 2, 2009, to February 1, 2010. “Customers can get cash discounts from $500 to $4,000, depending on the tractor and equipment packages they purchase, or zero percent financing,” Nelson explains.
The New Holland Rustler utility vehicle isn’t the only attention grabber here at the Farm Progress Show. The retro Boomer 8N is also front and center. I spoke with New Holland Product Manager, Paul Trella, about their new products like the Boomer 8N.
The latest addition to the company’s Boomer line, the redesigned 8N features distinctive, timeless styling, a Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) that creates a fun, easy, car-like driving experience as well as a variety of customizable accessories. First sold in 1948, this updated version of the classic 8N is now available to consumers seeking reliable power wrapped in a compact and time-honored package.
Of course the Rustler is also getting attention and Paul says customers are saying, “It’s about time.” Of course you can get the new vehicles in New Holland blue but you can also customize them in camo or black or probably any color you’d like. I’ve got several photos of them in our photo album.
You can learn more about the new things from New Holland in my interview with Paul below and you can see the Rustler in action in this video clip:
John Deere has once again come out with a whole list of new product announcements. The big one is about their introduction of the 8R Series high-powered row crop tractors.
As producers take on more acres and grow their farm operations, they and their employees are spending more time in the tractor cabs working. New 8R Series Tractors help operators work more comfortably and productively. The lineup includes six wheeled models that range from 225 to 345 engine horsepower and three track models that range from 295 to 345 engine horsepower.
Last night I spent a little while at the National Tractor Pull Association Midwest Xtreme Truck and Tractor Pull in Jefferson City, MO. There was a big crowd and I’ve never seen so many trucks and tractors, modified and ready to pull. My main reason to attend was because the National Biodisel Board and United Soybean Board were involved since several participants were running a blend of biodiesel in their tractors. I’ll have a couple interviews coming up soon with them.
In the meantime, I thought you’d enjoy a couple short video clips. These are some of the early competitors. The first one below was taken with my iPhone and I uploaded it there. The bottom one was taken with my Flip Mino HD and uploaded this morning. What do you think of the quality of each?
This year’s Show-Me Tractor Cruise is in the books and looks like it was a good one. It is a benefit ride for Camp Quality Northwest Missouri, a summer camp and year-round support program whose lives have been changed due to cancer.
This year’s Show-Me Tractor Cruise was another success! 321 tractors registrered for the ride…302 checked in and 272 tractors drove the route! Thanks to everyone who was part of the day and made this year’s Tractor Cruise a success! At this time, we’re estimating the total dollars raised at approximately $40,000 for Camp Quality Northwest Missouri. An official total will be announced after Independence Day.
Mark your calendars now: The 2010 Show-Me Tractor Cruise will be held Saturday, June 26th.
The 4th annual New Holland/Michael Peterson Celebrity Tractor Race was another rousing success at the CMA Music Festival. Not only is it a great promotion for New Holland and a fun way for fans to see some of their favorite stars in the tractor seat, it also raises money for the National FFA.
“The tractor is going to be sold at auction this year, as it has been for the last four years, at the National FFA Convention,” Michael said. “Fifty percent of the proceeds go to the charity of the driver’s choice and the other 50 percent goes to support FFA programs.”
Michael is pictured here with this year’s winner for the second year in a row, Darby Ledbetter, who is not only a great tractor driver, but also a singer/songwriter and proud member of the National Guard! Michael is on the right, by the way, Darby on the left – and that guy in the middle is the famous host of AgriTalk, Mike Adams, who was the announcer for the race once again this year.
The CMA Music Festival in Nashville featured some well-known country legends like Reba McEntire and the Judds, so it was a perfect place for New Holland to display its own country classic, the Boomer 8N.
“It’s a retro going back to the Ford 8N and we are very proud of that heritage of ours going back to the 40s and 50s,” said Clint Erickson, New Holland business manager for Tennessee, Alabama and Florida. The tractor, which was just launched earlier this year at the National Farm Machinery Show, was on display for all four days of the CMA Music Fest and at the New Holland/Michael Peterson Celebrity Tractor Race on Sunday.
The slogan for the 8N is “The Legend Returns” and Clint says it attracted a lot of attention at the festival with many posing for pictures with the shiny, sweet ride. Find out more at www.8n.com.
Listen to or download my interview with Clint here:
Fresno Equipment is right down this way as you can see from the sign.
I’m on location once again with the Drive Green Utility Tractor Show. This time in Fresno, CA. We couldn’t have more perfect weather conditions here. I hope we have a nice crowd out today, riding and driving the new John Deere equipment. Of course I’ll be posting onto DriveGreenTractors.com but I just thought you’d want to know where the agriblogger is today.
Feel free to follow along with my adventures online.
You can now sell your tractor by auction on the web at TractorHouse.com.
Online Auction Listings are now ‘live’ on TractorHouse.com. Consistent TractorHouse advertisers now have the option to auction their equipment to a worldwide buying audience, 24/7/365. All machines are auctioned directly by dealers to registered bidders on the Web site. Seller’s fees are minimal, and there are no auction fees charged to buyers. As a result, equipment can sell for less than at other conventional or online auctions.
“Buyers and sellers both are embracing the concept, even though it’s a fairly new idea to the industry,” says Nate DeWald, project manager of the Online Auction feature. The company reports that over $1 million worth of equipment has been auctioned in just the first few weeks since the feature’s introduction.
The company also has the live auction feature available on their MachineryFinder.com website.
I’ve heard of storm chasers, but this is the first I ever heard of “tractor chasers.”
Agwired was alerted to these so-called “Tractor Chasers” who are endeavoring to get a glimpse of the new John Deere 8RT Tractor that’s scheduled for release this August. They even have their own website and YouTube videos and everything. Hmmmm….
Check out the first of two videos so far here – check out the website or YouTube for others:
Katie Sheets is a John Deere marketing representative out of the Waterloo, IA factory and she has been at the National Farm Machinery Show this week introducing a brand new tractor name and numbering system.
“We have extended this tractor line up from two tractors to four tractors,” Katie told me. “The one we are standing in front of a 6100D, a 6 series tractor, 100 engine horsepower and the D stands for the specification level – this is a lower, mid-spec tractor.”
Katie says this tractor is perfect for those small ag customer using it for loader work or light hay or cattle operations.
Listen to an interview with Katie here
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You can also download the interview here: Katie Sheets (mp3).
This ain’t your great-grandaddy’s tractor – even if it might look like it!
This is the New Holland Boomer 8N, a new and improved version of the classic Ford 8N tractor originally made in the late 1940s. New Holland’s Rory Chisholm says the tractor features a modern drive line with the latest innovations. “So its a marriage of two things that results in quite a stunning looking tractor,” Rory said. “We realized that we had this tractor in our history that’s a link to our past so we decided to put a little of the new and a little of the old together and the end result was the Boomer 8N.”
Comfort and safety are features in the new tractor, with a shiny rollover bar and a cushioned seat modeled after the much less comfortable steel pan seats of the original.
Over 500,000 of the original Ford 8N tractors went into production and many of them are still in existence and hold a sense of nostalgia for lots of people who grew up on farms. The Boomer 8N will be going into production later this spring. The tractors will not necessarily be a limited run, but they will be numbered, and our friend Gene Hemphill is in negotiations right now with a certain celebrity vehicle buff to get serial number one in his garage.
Listen to an interview with Rory here
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Went to my first-ever tractor pull last night here at the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, which left me wondering who ever came up with this idea and how much had they been drinking?
I witnessed the 8,200 lb super stock tractor division competition, where the Renegade Deere driven by David Siefert of Ohio placed third. Watch my video of his pull here:
As a gadget, I mean cool tools, kind of guy I thought this was a great invention idea and it won an award at the American Farm Bureau Federation convention.
Daniel Prough of LaGrange, Ind., earned the grand prize in the Farmer Idea Exchange competition at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s 90th annual meeting.
Prough won a year’s use of a New Holland TV-145 bidirectional tractor. New Holland has provided a year’s free use of a tractor to the grand prize winner for 19 of the 20 years the program has existed.
Prough’s invention, an illuminating grease gun, is a xenon flashlight mounted on a heavy-duty pistol grease gun. Having the flashlight mounted on the grease gun makes it much easier to pump the gun and hold the grease tip at the same time.
Gene Hemphill, New Holland, says that Dan calls it GREASED LIGHTNING. He used his new iPhone to send me the photo of him (left) with Dan by the way! I’m telling you, they are a handy tool too.
Happy Thanksgiving week to all of you. I know you’re hard at it so you can enjoy your holiday weekend. Cindy and I are doing the same.
In this week’s program I had to brag a little about our latest agriblogging project with John Deere. I think Robert, our web guy, has outdone himself with DriveGreenTractors.com. It is cool and going to get even cooler as we produce content over the coming months. A friend and I were talking over coffee today about how this is the future for companies in their communications/advertising efforts. The mobility of blogging and podcasting via computers and phones is where it’s at and that includes agriculture and the whole rural lifestyle market. Integrate those platforms with social networking (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) and communicate directly and personally with your customers. John Deere gets it!
The man who has been spearheading the Drive Green Utility Tractor Show is Eric Hodson, pictured second from right in this photo of their booth at NAFB’s Trade Talk. I spoke with Eric there and you’ll hear him describe why they’re sending a crew on the road to bring the latest utility tractors directly to customers via their dealer network.
The program this week ends with music from the Podsafe Music Network. This one is called “Ax Chase Turkey” from the Nalts. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.
You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast 196 (9 min MP3)
Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:
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The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar. You can also subscribe in iTunes
It may be late on Friday but I did mention earlier this week that we’d have a big announcement today. It’s the Drive Green Utility Tractor Show blog, which is now official and public (final tweaks being made as speak).
Yes, it’s a ZimmComm project, working closely with the folks at BCS Communications and the public relations staff at John Deere. I’ll be the Drive Green Guy at many stops along the Show route starting the first week in December at the kickoff event in Middleburg, FL.
In case you’re wondering just what this is all about, let me bring you up to date. To start with, this is the truck that’s going to be pulling in to John Deere Dealers, starting in the Southeast. We’ve already got 45 locations scheduled in the coming months. You’ll always be able to find the upcoming locations here or on the John Deere Drive Green page. This custom tractor transporter will hold a variety of new John Deere utility tractors for display and ride-and-drives at each stop. You can see pictures of many of them in this online photo album.
To help you understand what the show is all about I spoke with Eric Hodson, John Deere Senior Writer, Public Relations. We were at the recent National Association of Farm Broadcasting convention. Eric says the company wants people to know “that there’s a John Deere tractor for you at a price you can afford.” To prove it, he says, they’re taking the tractors on the road so people have a chance to see them and drive them for themselves.
You can listen to my interview with Eric here:
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A program designed to give rural property owners, agricultural producers and other interested consumers a chance to operate and ask questions about the latest models of utility and compact utility tractors is being launched by John Deere. The company-sponsored Drive Green Program includes special equipment displays and ride-and-drive events at more than 45 currently scheduled locations starting in the Southeast.(more…)
Peach and blueberry growers just got a new tractor option from New Holland. I met with Andy Reinert, Mid-Range Tractor Marketing Manager, and learned all about it. He says the Sunbelt Ag Expo is the first place they’ve displayed the new tractor in the U. S. It’s got more power (comes in 62 to 82HP) and he says growers will be happy with the lower emissions obtained by the new engines.
Producers can put big power to work in tight quarters with the new T4000F orchard tractors from New Holland. Built on the legendary performance and reliability of their predecessors the TNF/TNF-A Series, these tractors meet Tier III emissions standards with 4-cylinder engines that are turbocharged and intercooled for maximum performance, low emissions, and fuel efficiency.
T4000F Series tractors combine outstanding power and maneuverability with the narrow width and low cab height needed to work under tree canopies and in close quarters where clearance can be a problem. Overall cab height on the T4000F Series has been reduced by 5.2 inches to 85.5 inches for easier travel under branches. The exceptionally long wheelbase provides stability, better traction and a smoother, more comfortable ride.
Listen to my interview with Andy here:
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The National Biodiesel Conference is taking place in Grapevine, TX. Chuck is on the scene and adding to the ZimmComm photo collection.
New NAFB Executive Director
If you don't know Mark Vail then meet him in this week's program.
Mark will officially start as the Executive Director for the National Association of Farm Broadcasting on March 1. We chatted via Skype and talked about what he sees as the priorities and challenges of the organization.
The Association of Equipment Manufacturers has released their 2010 outlook for agricultural machinery. It looks like an expectation of continued “continued weakness in U.S. and Canadian tractor sales.” This is comes from a survey they conduct of members. So although this year’s outlook is somewhat negative, future years look much better.
To tell us what’s new with John Deere I spoke to Matthew Arnold, Sr. Marketing Representative. Matthew was attending the NAFB Trade Talk to discuss the 
Tom Dean is the Marketing Manager for high horsepower tractors at Case IH (seen here in his NAFB Trade Talk booth). He says those are classified as 100+ horsepower. He says what’s new is the 
This is 
The 
and 
John Deere has once again come out with a whole list of new product announcements. The big one is about their introduction of the 
This year’s 
The 4th annual New Holland/Michael Peterson Celebrity Tractor Race was another rousing success at the CMA Music Festival. Not only is it a great promotion for New Holland and a fun way for fans to see some of their favorite stars in the tractor seat, it also raises money for the 
The CMA Music Festival in Nashville featured some well-known country legends like Reba McEntire and the Judds, so it was a perfect place for New Holland to display its own country classic, the 
Fresno Equipment is right down this way as you can see from the sign.
You can now sell your tractor by auction on the web at 
I’ve heard of storm chasers, but this is the first I ever heard of “tractor chasers.” 
Katie Sheets is a 
This ain’t your great-grandaddy’s tractor – even if it might look like it!
Comfort and safety are features in the new tractor, with a shiny rollover bar and a cushioned seat modeled after the much less comfortable steel pan seats of the original.
Went to my first-ever tractor pull last night here at the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, which left me wondering who ever came up with this idea and how much had they been drinking?
As a gadget, I mean cool tools, kind of guy I thought this was a great invention idea and it won an award at the 
Happy Thanksgiving week to all of you. I know you’re hard at it so you can enjoy your holiday weekend. Cindy and I are doing the same.
The man who has been spearheading the Drive Green Utility Tractor Show is Eric Hodson, pictured second from right in this photo of their booth at NAFB’s Trade Talk. I spoke with Eric there and you’ll hear him describe why they’re sending a crew on the road to bring the latest utility tractors directly to customers via their dealer network.
It may be late on Friday but I did mention earlier this week that we’d have a big announcement today. It’s the 
Peach and blueberry growers just got a new tractor option from 
If you don't know Mark Vail then meet him in this week's program.
