SASKATOON (Staff) — The bright spot in farm machinery sales continues to be tillage and seeding equipment.
Wendy Morris, president of Morris Implements of Yorkton, Sask., presented the forecasted sales in this category to the Canadian Farm and Industrial Equipment Institute on behalf of the Prairie Implement Manufacturers Association.
Sales of short-line equipment were up by 30 percent in 1993 and Morris attributed half of that surge to the investment tax credit.
But the other half, she said, was driven by farmers’ experimentation with minimum-till and direct seeding techniques.
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“We’re finally seeing the long-predicted pent-up demand for machinery.”
That same quest is going to drive 1994 sales. She said: “The Canadian market is paving the way in new seeding technology.” Her predictions:
- Sales of air tanks will be up by 30 percent in 1994. Of those sales, 45 percent will be sold as stand-alone tanks as farmers move into air-seeding one step at a time.
- Sales of chisel plows will be up by 20 percent and tillage units by 25 percent, as farmers upgrade to units with floating hitches.
- Sales of air drills will be up by 42 percent, to 1,035 units, Morris predicted, and 95 percent of those sales will include air tanks.
