That's a very good piece capturing a lot of the issues (esp GPS retrofitting which is easy and make a huge difference).
The one thing it doesn't quite draw out is that the market has segmented. If you are a small to mid farmer you have fairly low demands for horsepower and can tolerate small breakdowns you can fix in the field. So buying an older machine makes sense.
If you are a big farmer or a contractor (person with a big tractor/combine/machine who hires out) you need high horsepower and 18 hour a day operation without breakdowns. as in fleet purchasing for trucks they have rolling finance for high capital value kit to replace it every couple of years having run up high hours.
The modern electronic high power kit is quite amazing, it's not gratuitous use of electronics. Electronics also important for meeting modern emissions regs.
Tractors, as the piece points out have to be ultra rugged for field work and that means that the older stuff does last well and 100hp or over will get you a long way.
That's a very good piece capturing a lot of the issues (esp GPS retrofitting which is easy and make a huge difference).
The one thing it doesn't quite draw out is that the market has segmented. If you are a small to mid farmer you have fairly low demands for horsepower and can tolerate small breakdowns you can fix in the field. So buying an older machine makes sense.
If you are a big farmer or a contractor (person with a big tractor/combine/machine who hires out) you need high horsepower and 18 hour a day operation without breakdowns. as in fleet purchasing for trucks they have rolling finance for high capital value kit to replace it every couple of years having run up high hours.
The modern electronic high power kit is quite amazing, it's not gratuitous use of electronics. Electronics also important for meeting modern emissions regs.
Tractors, as the piece points out have to be ultra rugged for field work and that means that the older stuff does last well and 100hp or over will get you a long way.