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TAMA president John Tulloch.
Tractor importers and distributors have a healthy 2018 report card from the Tractor and Machinery Association (TAMA).
Retail sales in all categories were 4640 units sold during 2018 – up 14% on 2017 (4079). (In the dairy boom year -- 2014 -- sales were 4062.)
A breakdown of the figures shows the sub-60hp category had 1227 sales (+23% on 2017), the key 60-120hp sector had 1505 (+4.5%) and 120-250hp had 1753 (+14.5%). The high horsepower (250hp+) prime movers moved the most -- 156 units (+50%) eclipsing 104 sales in 2017.
TAMA president John Tulloch says the trend is likely to continue into 2019 provided there is no sudden global impact or bad weather.
UK new tractor registrations were 12,102, about 1% higher than in 2017. But December 2018 saw a 38% decrease on the same month in 2017. December 2017 many pre-registrations to beat new regulations imposed by the European Union.
Sales in Ireland were largely static, reports the Farm Tractor & Machinery Trade Association: 1762 units were registered in 2018 versus 1796 in 2017 (-2%).
In a larger view, the Agrievolution Alliance released numbers for 2017 showing sales of 2.1 million tractors -- 13% higher than the 1.9m sold the previous year. China and India combined sold one million units -- 490,000 and 600,00 tractors respectively.
US tractor sales were up 4% at 220,00 units. Europe sales were up 13% at 190,000 tractors, with major increases in the key markets of France and Germany.
First up to the podium at the recent Tractor and Machinery Association (TAMA) Conference in Wellington, Minster for Agriculture, Todd McClay, reflected on a difficult 12 months, but hinted at signs that things were turning the corner, saying “when ag does well, New Zealand does well”.
A 2022 Nuffield scholar, Lucie Douma, was brought up on a Southland dairy farm and as a hobby likes the risky business of trail running and ultra marathons.
The recent Tractor and Machinery Association (TAMA) conference in Wellington was signalling cautious optimism on the back of rising milk and store cattle prices and drops in interest rates.
Deere NZ territory manager Jaiden Drought was elected new president of the Tractor and Machinery Association (TAMA) at its August annual meeting.
Following a couple of bumper sales years when the rolling year-to-date figure for 2022 hit about 16,250 tractors, it looks like things are changing in the Australian farm machinery landscape.
After 20 years of milking cows, Northland farmer Greg Collins is ready to step into the governance side of dairy.
For some Canterbury teenagers, their career is being shaped by hands-on experience in a sector they are passionate about - dairy farming.
Dairy farmers will be paying a new levy rate of 4.5c/kgMS - an extra 0.9c/kgMS - to industry-good body DairyNZ from June 1 this year.
The 'atmospheric river' of rain that swept down the country last week almost completely avoided one of the worst drought-affected regions in the country – coastal Taranaki.
Much-needed rain finally arrived in Northland, giving many farmers breathing space to get themselves back on track for next season.
Despite the turmoil in global markets, Fonterra is continuing with a dual track process to divest its multi-billion dollars consumer businesses.
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