Farm machinery sales made an unexpected surge last year despite a 12 percent drop in farm income as farmers moved to replace worn out equipment or liquidate under-utilized machines to improve their cash flow, industry representatives said last week at the Iowa Power Farming Show.

“There are a lot of producers who haven’t traded in the last couple of years, and as that equipment is getting worn out, they are starting to watch repairs and other costs associated with machinery going out of warranty,” said Chris Steinkamp, territory manager for AgDirect, the equipment financing arm of Farm Credit Services. “Some producers will be basing trade-ins on limiting those costs.”

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