continued from page 15 ONTARIO GRAIN FARMER INDUSTRY NEWS move excess used inventory. Third on the list is the shift resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, when on-line bidding, which had been around for the previous 10 years, intensified and turned to on-line only auctions. “You have to remember where commodity prices were in March 2020—they hadn’t gone up yet,” says Peterson. “The auction prices started to go up in mid-March 2020, and I thought there was no reason, yet they were going up. The only thing I could think of was the world we live in has us (on our phones) all the time, which is great—we built our company around that.” Yet when it comes to buying equipment and everyone is online only, it dissolved peoples’ hesitation about clicking that bid button one more time. It also meant more interested buyers from across North America, not just the U.S. THERE’S AN EASIER WAY TO MAXIMIZE YOUR FIELD'S POTENTIAL SOYA IP SIMPLIFIÉE 1.888.427.7692 CERESCO.CA SIMPLIFIED IP SOYBEANS OFFERING YOU MORE, YIELDS BETTER RESULTS! Guaranteed Varietal Premium More Delivery Points In Quebec And Ontario Year-Round Agronomic Support Storage Premium Weed Management Program 100% Buyback Program With Ceresco’s Premium Buy Back IP Program and a full team dedicated to help you achieve your goals, we make it easier than ever to get every dollars worth for your fields. The other driver is the price of new equipment. Before 2020 and 2023, Peterson reasoned the price of new would increase by about four per cent, year-over-year. But coming through the pandemic, the effects of supply chain contraction, labour costs, and not being able to procure equipment, everything went out the window. At the 2024 Commodity Classic, the newest John Deere tractor went for $1.2 million. Equipment has increased in size and price. In response to viewing a video that Peterson shot and posted on Machinery Pete, the most frequently asked question has been, “How much does it cost?” It begs another question he posed recently: “Will we ever get to the point where pricing is too high?” “Unfortunately, what I think we’re setting up for is a little bit of this continual ‘boom-bust,’ where manufacturers shut production when commodity prices are low, to help dealers move excess used,” said Peterson. “Then, for whatever reason, corn and soybeans go up, and you’re four or five years into the cycle, you need to replace your combine and planter, but so does everyone else. Then it takes a while to ramp up production, so you have to pay and have the planter or combine you need, and the price pressure tells you to pay it, and I think, unfortunately, that’s what we’re setting up for.” •
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTQzODE4