Farm equipment dealers across the Prairies got their Christmas wish this year, and then some.
Combine sales shot up almost 45 percent in 1996 compared to 1995, statistics from the Canadian Farm and Industrial Equipment Institute show.
“We’re smiling, let’s just put it that way,” said Ken Martin, manager of the New Holland dealership in North Battleford, Sask. “It has just been phenomenal.”
Martin’s business sold 22 new combines in 1996 compared to seven last year.
“I’d say the most we’ve sold before that has been about 10 in a year,” he said. “We’ve never seen this kind of jump.”
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The trend carried through across Western Canada, where combine sales jumped 44 percent compared to last year, the report says. That’s the biggest jump since the 1970s.
By the end of November, farm equipment dealers sold 2,545 self-propelled combines compared to 1,761 last year during the same period.
CFIEI president Brent Hamre said a big crop and aging equipment led to the dramatic increase.
“Farmers enjoyed an increase in their own net incomes and also, I think it came to the point where some machinery was quite literally at the end of its tether.”
Considering an average combine sells for about $120,000, Hamre said association members are “feeling pretty good.”
Martin added four more full-time employees to the 19-person staff to keep up with the business.
Jim Wishlow, manager for New Holland’s manufacturing branch for Saskatchewan and Manitoba, said the company didn’t expect this kind of growth for 1996.
“We tried to increase production to suit the market and did not meet the demand,” he said. “With the big crop, sales were certainly brisk and we sold out on everything.”
New Holland sold about 400 new combines in the two provinces in 1996, compared to 300 the year before.
Wishlow said 250 combines have already been pre-sold to clients for the coming year.
“Normally that’s what we do in a whole year,” Wishlow said.
Farm tractors and pick-up truck sales were not far behind.
According to Statistics Canada figures, sales of North American-manufactured commercial vehicles shot up 17 percent in 1996 to 15,376.
Larry Nairn, sales manager at Merlin Motors in Saskatoon, said pick-up sales at his business rose 25 percent in 1996.
“I think it is a very good indication that the economy is picking up,” he said.
“There was a good crop and things are looking pretty decent.”
Nairn said most dealers in Saskatoon enjoyed a good year as a result of pent-up consumer demand.
“There are more people buying vehicles and the market in Saskatoon is just getting bigger.”
Martin said he sold 18 new four-wheel drive tractors in the past two months, which is more than his total sales for 1995.
Hamre said the trend will probably continue through 1997.
