Reading Time: 2 minutes Corrected, Sept. 17 — A major Dutch farm equipment distributor is buying into the Manitoba equipment business, with a deal for Hepson Equipment and a partnership stake in GenAg. Royal Reesink announced Friday it has bought a controlling stake in Hepson and has a partnership deal in place with the Kehler family, owners of GenAg. […] Read more
Dutch distributor buys into Manitoba Claas dealerships
Climate change has U.S. fund managers adjusting agriculture investments
Reading Time: 3 minutes New York | Reuters — After historic floods devastated Midwestern agricultural states this spring, some fund managers are evaluating how climate change will affect the long-term value of companies that make or sell products ranging from tractors to fertilizer. The issue is not simply the unpredictability of weather. Instead, fund managers say, they are struggling […] Read more
CNH begins 3D-printing spare parts
Reading Time: 2 minutes In a twist on the idea of ordering parts online, the parent firm for New Holland and Case IH is trying out the use of 3D printing to make plastic — and eventually metal — spare parts. British-based equipment manufacturing giant CNH Industrial said Monday it has already produced its first 3D-printed spare parts, making […] Read more
Brand loyalty cuts deeper
Farmers tell manufacturers how and why they buy new equipment
Reading Time: 5 minutes When a few hundred staff and executives from the Canadian equipment brands that belong to AMC, the Agricultural Manufacturers of Canada, gathered for their 48th annual convention in Winnipeg in December, they used the opportunity to find out a bit more about their customers. AMC organizers had invited producers from different segments of the farming […] Read more
The ‘right’ solution
Manufacturers and dealers make their case in the divisive “right-to-repair” debate
Reading Time: 6 minutes Here at Country Guide we’ve discussed the so-called “right to repair” machinery debate, most recently when a joint press release from a major dealer association and AEM, the association that represents most North American ag equipment manufacturers, announced concessions to allow for more access to the “brain” of machines to facilitate repairs. Our previous discussion […] Read more
Chipping away
Tinkering with the environmental control systems on your new tractor or combine could cost a whole lot more than the $3,000 chipset
Reading Time: 6 minutes A few months ago I was talking with Jim Wood, chief sales and operations officer, at the Rocky Mountain Equipment dealership chain. He voiced concern at the time about equipment owners who were deleting the emissions systems in their late-model equipment. Aside from the issues this creates at dealership service departments, he expressed concern that […] Read more
Building their Canadian base
While the rest of us had our eyes turned south, Ukrainian manufacturer Losova used CUFTA to set up shop in Canada
Reading Time: 5 minutes If we’ve heard about NAFTA and USMCA once during the past 12 months, we’ve heard about them a million times, and for good reason. As the U.S. president’s rhetoric around the renegotiations heated up, the risk to established supply chains in virtually every manufacturing sector kept business executives up at night. Now, with a new […] Read more
If you’re not happy with your purchase
All three Prairie provinces have protection for farm equipment purchasers, but the provisions differ
Reading Time: 5 minutes If you’ve taken parts or equipment home but they’re not working as promised, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta all have farm implement acts providing for the dealer to repair or replace them. But while the three provinces have some similar protections, they also differ significantly. All deal with the sale, lease and lease-purchase of farm equipment […] Read more
Iron backlog gone as equipment makers rightsize
It’s taken a few years, but dealers have finally whittled down inventories
Reading Time: 3 minutes Two years ago, you couldn’t drive past an equipment dealership without noticing the rows upon rows of machines — carry-over of anticipated demand that never came. “In 2013 and 2014, everybody was firing on all cylinders,” said Leah Olson, president of the Agricultural Manufacturers of Canada. “With our record harvests, there was a fundamental shift […] Read more
Interview: A taxing time for manufacturers
Ag manufacturers see uncertainty and higher production costs from steel tariffs
Reading Time: 6 minutes The opening salvos in a trade war initiated by the current U.S. administration are already having an impact on all the manufacturing sectors in Canada, the U.S and around the world, most of it negative. For example, it’s been announced that Harley Davidson, that icon of U.S. brands, feels it’s necessary to move some of […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
