In the midst of an overall slowdown in the ag equipment market, precision farming could prove to be a bright spot for dealers. While North American retailers forecast another challenging year for new equipment sales, technology sales are projected to rebound at a quicker pace, according to Ag Equipment Intelligence’s 2016 Dealer Business Outlook & Trends report.

Jack Zemlicka, technology editor with Precision Farming Dealer, talked to Jason Hecht, equipment manager with Birkey's Farm Stores, about the growing trend of farm machinery coming from the factory already equipped with precision technology. The trend has influenced Birkeys' volume of aftermarket hardware sales and Hecht sees that continuing into the future.

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Video Transcript

In the midst of an overall slowdown in the ag equipment market, precision farming could prove to be a bright spot for dealers. While North American retailers forecast another challenging year for new equipment sales, technology sales are projected to rebound at a quicker pace, according to Ag Equipment Intelligence’s 2016 Dealer Business Outlook & Trends report.

GPS and precision farming ranked second on dealers’ list of best bets for improving unit sales in 2016, compared to eighth place last year. Nearly one-third of North American dealers project an increase of at least 2% in precision sales in 2016 according to the report.

However, U.S. dealers are slightly less optimistic that precision sales will be as robust in 2016, compared to prior years. About 36% of dealers projected an increase in precision sales in 2015, compared to 30% this year, according to the report.

One contributing factor, according to Jason Hecht, equipment manager with Birkey’s Farm Store in Illinois, is that more farm machinery is coming from the factory already equipped with precision technology.

This has influenced the dealership’s volume of aftermarket hardware sales — a trend that Hecht expects will continue into the foreseeable future. But he also sees areas where precision sales and service can help bolster the dealership’s bottom line in 2016.

“The opportunity is on the planting side of the business, with Precision Planting planters. Case IH planters are now available from the factory, precision ready and we can equip them at the dealership with field installed packages and that’s our biggest area of growth and where we see that business trending.”

Although the overall ag equipment market may take several years to fully recover, avenues to increase precision sales may be more readily available for dealers as a supplemental or even independent source of revenue.