FARM MACHINERY DEALERS RIDING A WAVE OF PROSPERITY

(Lincoln Journal Star) -- Steve Kayton, a Case-IH dealer at Seward, and Gary Vavrina, a John Deere dealer at Clarkson, have to think back a long way to remember a time when business has been this brisk. Kayton, who is the current president of North American Ag Equipment dealers, said: "There has been a surge in farm equipment sales." Surging prices for corn, soybeans, wheat and other crops in 2007 and 2008 are largely responsible for farmers’ buying inclinations. While a slowdown is tightening its grips on much of the rest of the economy, many of the state’s grain producers seem eager to spend $250,000 for the typical combine and to plop down some extra cash for those high-tech gadgets called global positioning systems. The Milwaukee-based Association of Equipment Manufacturers, which tracks monthly sales of big-ticket farm machinery, reports a 34.6% gain in combine sales for April 2008 versus April 2007. The comparable tractor gain for two-wheel-drive models with more than 100 horsepower is 12.4%. For the year, combine sales are up about 15.9% over the first four months of 2007 and sales of bigger tractors are up about 22.5%. Andy Goodman, chief administrator for the Iowa-Nebraska Equipment Dealers Association, said the strong market is "driven by increased commodity prices and also the high tech advancements made in equipment today, because that helps create higher production.”