Strong interest: Farm machinery sales up as the dust settles on WA’s three biggest agricultural Field Days

Bumper harvests have put a spring in the step of farmers willing to overlook blown-out delivery timeframes for agricultural machinery, with dealers that exhibited at the State’s three biggest agricultural Field Days reporting strong interest in the months that followed. With a record 24 million-tonne harvest — worth $9 billion to the State’s economy — last year and the prospect of the State’s second-biggest harvest being in the bin by February, many farmers have been feeling optimistic about their ability to fund new machinery purchases. Others, however, have flagged major concerns about the rising costs of inputs as well as the disparity between world prices and what WA grain growers are being paid for their crops due to the State’s struggling grains supply chain and difficulty getting grain to port. Despite rising inflation and the rapidly rising cost of doing business, there was a positive sentiment among those manning machinery dealerships’ exhibits at the State’s three major machinery field days in August and September. The season kicked off with a one day rendition of the Mingenew Midwest Expo on August 12, before the biggest of the three — the Dowerin Machinery Field Days — on August 30 and 31, and the 50th anniversary of the Newdegate Machinery Field Days on September 7 and 8. Like other machinery exhibitors, McIntosh and Son brought less equipment to Mingenew this year to fit the streamlined format of the event that normally spans two days. McIntosh and Son Geraldton branch manager Craig Adjuk congratulated the committee for trying something different. “Normally we would bring an extensive amount of machinery, but with the one-day event we’d struggle with the cost to get it all there,” Mr Adjuk said. McIntosh and Son Moora branch manager Cadeyn Catto was one of several staff manning the business’ exhibit at Dowerin, saying the good season had boosted confidence. “On the back of a strong harvest, the interest is flowing through the dealership and it gives us a lot of confidence going forward,” he said. “Machinery supplies are still tough, but we have done a lot of forward forecasting with the anticipation of supply chain issues.” COVID-related pressures have rattled global machinery supply chains during the past two years, with a surge in demand by businesses ordering and hoarding inventory, a dip in supply caused by factories working below capacity, and transport failures — including a lack of container ships — all playing a part. These factors compounded with the decline of Australia’s manufacturing base to create the perfect storm for significant shortages. Mr Catto said farmers visiting the McIntosh and Son exhibit — which included a wide range of machinery including the MacDon FD2 SeriesFlexDraper combine — were feeling confident about harvest. He said there had been a lot of interest in news that Miller had teamed up with French tech company Bilberry to offer green-on-greenspot spraying — with two Miller 7380 sprayers fitted with Bilberry green on-green cameras on display at Dowerin. Wespray Boomsprays marketing manager Elyssa Giedraitis said there were plenty of farmers flowing through the business’ site at Dowerin to find out about the machinery on display. “We value the Field Days as an opportunity to get out and talk to people, people who may be interested in purchasing, but also other people in the industry and seeing our current customers who are always up for stopping by and having a chat,” she said. “It is a different method to our other main form of marketing —social media. “They (field days) are equally important for our business and for the agriculture industry.” Calibre Spraying owner Daniel Watkins said interest in his new Calibre Quadro — the biggest spotsprayer ever made with a 10,000 litre tank — had been huge. “This is an aspect that has never been tackled before in this way people think we are crazy for creating a giant sprayer but as soonas they get their head around the reason why, it all starts to make sense,” he said. “It is about spreading investment as a 12-month prospect.” Boekeman Machinery Dowerin branch manager Peter Crippen said there had been strong inquiries at his local Field Day, with more “serious buyers” found on the second day of the event. Precision farming was the main point of interest at the exhibit, with grain analysing and autosteer simulators very popular — as well as a range of children’s toys. “Farmers are interested in anything . . . it is mainly about what is available,” he said. “Some pieces of machinery are hard to find, so some farmers are keen to talk about what is available.” AFGRI general sales manager Jacques Coetzee said the company had expanded its site at this year’s Dowerin Machinery Field Days, with a reshuffle of the grounds giving better exposure. “Our main priority was to showcase the new John Deere Xseries combines, which as of this year will be the first time they were sold into the Australian market,” he said. “The X9 1100 with 690 horsepower was displayed across WA’s field days circuit and experienced significant interest from farmers across the regions.” AFGRI Wongan Hills branch manager Brendan Barratt said long lead times had forced farmers to think about their machinery times, further into the future. “Our customers are now conscious of the need to place orders early to ensure they have their equipment needs met as production pressures on suppliers remains a challenge at present,” he said. “We had to pull a few strings in order for the X9 to be displayed atDowerin as it was a sold item, but as ordering for these X9’s openedin August it was paramount for usto have one of these models on display. “It was by far the most popular machine that was on display at the AFGRI displays across the Field Days.” Fred Hopkins Machinery owner Gary Johnson attends Dowerin each year and said he regarded this year’s event as success thanks to sunny skies and warm weather that attracted healthy crowds. Mr Johnson bought the 70-year old business — founded by its namesake Fred Hopkins — with his father Dudley and wife Deborah 15 years ago. They brought eight staff and nearly 100 pieces of equipment to the Field Days, targeting hobby farmers and broadacre croppers, with about half of their products being engines and engine-related products. The rest is tractors and machinery to suit tractors. Mr Johnson said dealerships were now ordering “on a crystal ball”, with stock often arriving between two and three weeks later than usual. “We had a lot of people through because the weather was good, and even if they didn’t all come through the next week to buy things they were seeing our product and business name out there,” he said. “In the long-term, it is about being there.” German-founded machinery brand Lemken made its first trip across the border to exhibit at Dowerin and Newdegate this year, with the hope of widening the brand’s footprint in WA after first bringing products to Australia 30 years ago. Lemken Australia and New Zealand sales manager Craig Hopkins was on hand to represent subsidiary Lemken Australia, which has 25 dealerships in the Eastern States and 10 in New Zealand. After gauging interest at the two Field Days, the company plans to hold demonstrations in WA early next year. Its flagship display item was a 12m stubble cultivator disc machine called the Heliodor that folds up to 3m to transport. “We’ve been quite active in the Eastern States, but we are now targeting the WA market,” Mr Hopkins said. Precision Technology Solutions owner Julien Coles’ business, a service agent for Esperance and partner with Agrifac, said interest in Agrifac’s 49m boomspray was strong at Newdegate this year. He teamed up with Agrifac territory manager Matt Durack to run his exhibit. Both said the good season was driving interest but so was Agrifac’s effort to ramp up its footprint during the past seven years. Their headline item was a 49m,8000 litre boomspray with greenflow spray system which Mr Durack touted as very user friendly. There have been nearly 90 sold in WA during the past few years, almost triple the sales of a few years ago.“We had a huge year, last year was well and truly a record . . . we want to back it up again,” Mr Durack said. Farm Machinery and Industry Association executive officer John Henchy said past two years had driven home the need for farmers and manufacturers to place machinery orders early. At its worst, timelines blew out to more than 12 months for new machinery — ordered both locally and internationally — but Mr Henchy said timelines had stablilised to about six months. “It really depends what it is though, if you are looking for something for next seeding(starting in April), you would probably really struggle,” he said. “Some local and international dealers manufacturers closed their books two or three months ago, but some of the smaller suppliers have been able to take on more orders. ”However, Mr Henchy said interest at the Field Days had been strong and the feedback from dealers was “very positive”. “Things are looking good and we got through with very little frost,” he said. “There is quite a big appetite for machinery… year to date tractor sales are up, things are very positive. Supply is tight but it has alleviated somewhat. ”The dates have been set for next year’s Field Days, kicking off with Mingenew Midwest Expo on August 9 and 10, Dowerin Machinery Field Days on August 30 and 31, and Newdegate Machinery Field Days on September 6 and 7.