THERE’S a spring in the step of North American agriculture with buoyant commodity prices, a weak dollar and an insatiable demand for ethanol all helping to fuel business prospects.
An international machinery launch in Melbourne permitted an interesting peep into northern hemisphere farming when header manufacturer Gleaner – part of the AGCO empire – unveiled two new models in front of US and Australian dealers.
Setting the scene saw AGCO director of hay and harvesting, North America, Todd Stucke, detail how annual North American header sales stood at 10,000 units in 2008, rising to 11,000 units the following year, before climbing to 13,000 machines in 2010.
With farmers and contractors expected to purchase 12,700 units this year, it’s a remarkable turnaround from early 2000 when farmers purchased less than half these numbers.
“The big driver has been ethanol,” Mr Stucke said.
“It’s prompted a demand for corn which has brought prices up, put more value into commodity prices and has translated into better margins,” he added.
Mr Stucke’s viewpoint was largely echoed by many of the US dealers who attended the launch of Gleaner’s new S76 and S77 Super Size models, the result of a sales incentive programme that resulted in its top-selling dealer principals travelling to the sister launch in Australia.
With 10 stores spread across the entire state of Kansas, Lang Diesel’s Robert Ross says there is “a lot of excitement” in the ag business right now.
“Our farmers have been getting good yields along with good prices,” he said.
“They are making some money now, so they are spending it, too,” Mr Ross added.
Ahead of the northern hemisphere spring, and in anticipation of a big corn plant, Mr Ross said one side of Kansas was a little on the wet side while the other half remained extremely dry.
Gleaner headers have a strong following in Kansas since this is where the marque originally hailed from.
Robert Ross says their high productivity, clean grain samples, plus lighter specification – compared to some rival makes – continues to attract interest on the part of farmers concerned about ground compaction.
Producers in Kansas are gearing up to harvest their wheat crops in early June with their headers back in action later in the year harvesting corn and soya beans.
Meanwhile, Iowa-based farm machinery distributor Lenny Robinson, Robinson Implements, agrees that machinery sales “across the board,” including combine harvesters, tractors and light planters, have been on the up-and-up in recent years.
He is expecting a busy year ahead with his two stores needing to be on their toes to ensure a hassle-free harvest for the 500 Gleaner headers operating within his business footprint.
Conceding that farmers are spending a lot more money on technology, he said it was needed to combat higher input prices.
Interestingly, he said Gleaner combine harvesters were noted for the quality grain sample they delivered, also their fuel economy and fewer moving parts when compared with competitive makes.
By way of a tailpiece on the big Gleaner launch in Australia, AGCO’s Todd Stucke, says its designers remain focused on a number of key issues, including the overall weight of modern-day headers.
“Probably the biggest thing now is how to maximise capacity, the productivity per weight of combine, because weight is dollars,” he said.
“We’re looking at how to match that perfectly - to get the right production per weight (of machine),” Mr Stucke added.
Another point-of-interest looks to be in the area of minimising downtime, paring back, for instance, the time a farmer or contractor might spend cleaning out radiators and the like.
“We’re really looking at designing machines that can run 24/7 for 30 days straight,” Mr Stucke said.
“By then operators are normally through the peak of their harvest,” he added.
And what about the possible advent of driverless combine harvesters?
On that count Gleaner appears to believe that drivers will still be around for some time to come.
The suggestion is that more emphasis will be placed on maximising performance by installing new-generation sensors to ensure headers work to their full potential around the clock.
* Graham Fuller was a guest of Gleaner at its header launch in Melbourne.
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