Big equipment sales are way up

The Association of Equipment Manufacturers - made up of all those companies that make farm equipment and more - released its December and 2008 annual sales figures today.

Data show that sales of small tractors and the like fell last year - would that be sales to "ranchettes" or "ruralpolitans"? If so, the annual drop shouldn't be a surprise - that sector would have been squeezed early on by everything from gas prices to a slowing economy and more.

Meanwhile, demand for "farm size" equipment - higher horsepower tractors and combines - soared and has kept many of these companies very busy - with sales not just in the U.S. but all over the world. When crops are in demand, so are a lot of other items, like this kind of equipment. That means a lot of economic activity, taxes, job growth, etc., from manufacturers - many of which have plants in rural or smaller communities.

Here's AEM's data:

                                                               Beginning
                        December          YTD - December      Inventory
                   2008   2007  %Chg    2008     2007  %Chg      2008
2WD Farm Tractors
< 40 HP           5,103  6,926 -26.3  98,976  115,935 -14.6    56,853    
40 < 100 HP       4,978  6,459 -22.9  67,885   78,137 -13.1    33,177     
100+ HP           2,650  2,663  -0.5  26,291   20,875  25.9     6,507 
Total 2WD Farm  
 Tractors        12,731 16,048 -20.7 193,152  214,947 -10.1    96,537
4WD Farm Tractors    386    365   5.8   4,431    3,657  21.2       693   
Total Farm     
Tractors         13,117 16,413 -20.1 197,583  218,604  -9.6    97,230 
Self-Prop
Combines            942    910   3.5   8,460    7,104  19.1       729 

Disclaimer from AEM: These data are, in part, estimates that are subject to revisions when final detail data becomes available. Because of the seasonal nature of the industry, comparisons of monthly data from one period to another should be done with extreme caution. These data represent most, but not all, of the manufacturers in each product category being sold at retail in the fifty states and District of Columbia.