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Cervus Manawatu’s new flagship depot in Feilding.
Farm machinery dealer Cervus knows a thing or two about selling tractors and machinery, no doubt helped by its running 42 John Deere dealerships globally.
In Australia it runs six outlets in Victoria, and in New Zealand its nine depots cover the North Island from Waipapa to Gisborne in the east to Stratford in the west.
Its new showcase depot in Feilding was opened during the recent Central District Field Days after seven years operation in the area. "The new outlet will allow Cervus to expand its local operations and add value to our customers' businesses," says branch manager Dan Clavelle.
As part of the proceedings led by pseudo-farmer Te Radar, and attended by Cervus and John Deere staff from around the world, Minister for Primary Industries Nathan Guy cut the symbolic green ribbon to open the depot and noted "agriculture is a long term investment, and those with foresight look at the broader picture when making investment decisions".
He said Manawatu is the agri-hub of NZ with diversity encompassing dairy, beef, cropping and vegetables; 50% of the total NZ lamb kill happens within two hours of Feilding.
Guy asked people to remember that though the dairy sector is going through tough times, other sectors are positive in the overall picture: beef is up about 33% with sales of $3.2 billon, horticulture is delivering $4b and wine $1.6b.
Reflecting on calls by Labour leader Andrew Little to hold a 'dairy crisis summit', Guy commented "the Opposition appears to have very strong 'anti' views on many topics affecting agriculture, be it the TPP agreement, water storage or RMA reforms, and while appearing to make a lot of noise, they fail to come up with viable alternatives".
While tractors combines and machinery for agriculture and construction is still its key business, John Deere appears to be taking opportunities in the hightech sector via acquisition, with the recent purchase of Sentera, a Minnesota-based company that specialises in equipment for capturing and interpreting aerial images.
John Deere have recently announced upgrades to its round baler offerings, with all models of this latest generation equipped with advanced ISOBUS capabilities, allowing them to be fully integrated into the John Deere Operations Center.
With agriculture in New Zealand coming out of the doldrums over the last few months and the recent announcement of a 20% tax write-off for capital purchases, it likely that farmers will be spending on tractors.
Recent results from its 2024 financial year has seen global farm machinery player John Deere record a significant slump in the profits of its agricultural division over the last year, with a 64% drop in the last quarter of the year, compared to that of 2023.
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