|
|
|
3 MIN. READ
The entire nation relies on the farm machinery industry for food. If that is not an indicator of how important it is, consider the fact that it accounts for over $109 billion in sales annually.
Farm machinery includes the types of equipment used in agriculture such as tractors, combines, cultivators, irrigation systems, livestock care and bailing machines.
Looking to reach farm machinery manufacturers? IndustrySelect gives you live access to detailed information on 400,000 U.S. manufacturers. Learn more about our database subscription.
Over 76,000 people are employed by this industry, with some of the largest companies including John Deere, Hunter Industries and Landoll Corporation. In this article, we will discuss three important things to know about this industry.
It is no secret that the majority of the agriculture sector in the United States is based in the Midwest. There are several reasons for this, including climate, soil and economic. Keeping this in mind, it makes sense that 53% of farm machinery companies, a full 828 of them, are headquartered in this same region.
On the other hand, only 6% of this industry is located in the Northeast. Considering the difference in population density, climate and terrain, this makes sense as well.
Being located where their customers are enables these companies to serve them better.
Despite fears that Chinese tariffs would decimate the industry, there are signs that they are having their intended effects for American manufacturers.
John Deere, the world's largest manufacturer of farm equipment, beat out the world's second largest manufacturer, Kubota, this past January in shipments, margins and year-to-year increases.
While John Deere sustained a stock loss of 5%, Kubota suffered a 26% decline. Full-year sales were at 9% with 150,000 units sold. Despite this good news, there is still some risk due to existing tariffs on agricultural products.
If tariffs cannot be shifted away from certain foods to other products such as petroleum or raw materials, the impact to farmers may force stockpiling or reduction in crop planting, resulting in reduced demand for farm machinery.
Sales growth across the industry remained flat at only 0.72% during 2018, so it remains to be seen what will happen, but it appears that cautious optimism may be the order of the day.
Technology has made its way into agriculture, especially in the equipment used by farmers.
Farms of the future will feature all manner of advanced solutions for crop and livestock management. Machines are guided by GPS for exact positioning in fields.
Automation bootstrap systems are available to convert older machines to fully automated or remotely controllable operation. Irrigation systems conserve water and optimize for the type of crop being grown. And unmanned aerial devices allow farmers to monitor the condition of their crops from altitude.
The days of hundreds of field workers planting, watering and harvesting are being replaced with one farmer managing multiple automated systems.
The result is better crop and livestock yields, lower workload and decreased operational costs.
The information and data in this article were compiled by MNI, century-old compiler and publisher of the industrial data that powers IndustrySelect. Detailed statistics on each company in this sector are available for subscribers.
Up to 30 data points can be added to identify and pre-qualify the best leads from nearly 400,0000 U.S. manufacturers.
Profiles include the names, titles and email addresses for hard-to-reach executive decision-makers. Curious to see how IndustrySelect could jump-start your sales campaign? Try out a free demo.
Follow IndustrySelect on Google News