MachineryLink

In this Equipment Roundup, DTN/Progressive Farmer looks at: July sales of large farm tractors and combines rose compared to July 2020, and CropX and KIOTI announce new products.

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SALES OF LARGER TRACTORS RISE

Sales of the larger tractors most often found on commercial farms rose in July over July 2020, reported the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM). In that same report, however, AEM stated that sales of units under 40 horsepower declined 4.4%, compared to July 2020.

The under-40 hp category represents a large number of units (19,474 sold in July) compared for example, to the 287 articulated four-wheel drive tractors sold in July. Given those numbers, AEM calculates that overall tractor sales in July 2021 declined slightly, 0.8% compared to July 2020.

Sales of self-propelled combines rose 19.2% over year-ago sales. That's a good number, representing 657 units sold.

Also in AEM's July report, the mid-size 41-100 hp tractor segment was flat, down 0.4% or just 26 units.

AEM reports that all other segments were positive. Articulated four-wheel drive sales rose 79.4% over July 2020. Sales of 100-plus, two-wheel-drive segment rose 37.8%. Year-to-date farm tractor sales remain up 13.7% and combines up 12.6%.

In Canada, July monthly tractor and combine sales were positive across all segments, compared to July 2020. That includes sub-40 hp tractors, up 0.2%. Four-wheel-drive sales nearly doubling, up 93.8%. Total farm tractor sales were up 14.8% percent and self-propelled combines up 59.8%.

"The story of these row-crop and articulated four-wheel-drive sales is a reflection of farmer optimism throughout North America," said AEM's Senior Vice President of Ag Services Curt Blades. "These big units are often six-figure investments for farmers, and farmers don't make these sorts of investments without serious consideration of future market conditions."

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CROPX MAKES MAJOR EUROPEAN BUY

CropX announced the acquisition of Dacom Farm Intelligence this week, a European crop optimization platform. With this purchase, CropX now offers a crop management platform with active irrigation technology, hardware-based soil data, fertilizer management and crop protection capabilities.

"Dacom was the missing puzzle piece for our farm management platform, adding an established foothold in Europe, two decades of European crop data to our global machine learning engines, as well as a critical component -- crop protection and recording -- to our product mix," said CropX CEO Tomer Tzach.

CropX, based in Israel automates farm decision-making processes by combining above-ground data sets with real-time soil data. For more information: www.cropx.com

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KIOTI RELEASES GRAPPLES, NEW COMPACT TRACTOR

KIOTI, a division of Daedong-USA, Inc., is expanding its product offering with a new line of grapples and new CX2510 HST Cab model. The grapples include three compact and three standard-duty grapple rake models. Widths range from 48- to 72-inches and jaw openings between 30- and 41-inch.

The CX2510 HST Cab compact tractor joins two other models in the CX Series released last year. It includes a factory-installed full-size cab, air conditioning and heat. The CX2510 HST Cab is also equipped with tilt steering, illuminated dashboard and an adjustable premium suspension seat with dual armrests.

The CX2510 HST Cab runs on a 24.5-hp KIOTI engine and dual pedal hydrostatic transmission.

For more information: www.KIOTI.com.

Dan Miller can be reached at dan.miller@dtn.com

Follow him on Twitter @DMillerPF

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