Case IH dealership group Titan Machinery announced Oct. 18 that its founder and CEO David Meyer will transition to executive chairman, effective Feb. 1 of next year. Meyer co-founded Titan Machinery in 1980, and since then he has grown it from 2 stores to over 150 locations worldwide.
This transition will put Titan Machinery’s Chief Operating Officer and President Bryan Knutson in the role of CEO. Knutson said not growing the business simply for the sake of growing is part of what will define his time as CEO.
“We want to continue to grow organically — and through acquisitions — in a very sustainable manner and in a very healthy manner,” he said. “You look at some contractors, some farmers even, who grow just for the sake of growth, and maybe don't do the best job farming those fields. You see dealers and other businesses sometimes do that too. We look very critically at every acquisition, analyzing each of the markets we want to go to.”
For next year’s main challenges, Knutson said inventory shortages and long lead times in certain key product categories appear they will continue well into 2024. He also pointed to lower commodity prices’ impact on customer sentiment, though added that income averaging, forward contracting, insurance programs, subsidies and yields can offset these lower commodity prices.
“Inventory is an interesting one because there’s areas where we’re still on allocation, where we’re still not getting enough product that we want, and you’re hearing that from other dealers too,” Knutson said. “And there’s certain types of products that are building up a little bit, both on used and new — more so new — thus far. A lot of those are lower-dollar ticket items.
“We're looking at $4 in some corn now vs. pretty consistently $5 in some corn throughout last year. Operating loans as farmers get those in late winter and early spring are going to be at higher interest rates — measurably higher than they were last year — and other inputs haven't come down as much. Depending on yields, which is the other half of the equation, net farm income will likely be down next year.”
Titan Machinery is on the Farm Equipment Dealer 100™ (a ranking of the top 100 North American farm equipment dealers — by number of locations, which provides information on total and ag stores, brands, geographies served, employees, history, executives and ownership/company profile information.
