In this episode of On the Record, brought to you by Associated Equipment Distributors, we take a look at Titan International’s 2024 results, and the tire manufacturers outlook for this year. In the Technology Corner, Noah Newman shares highlights from an autonomy panel during the National Farm Machinery Show.. Also in this episode, rural lifestyle dealers are optimistic about their revenue outlook for 2025, while farm equipment dealers are calling for sales to be down this year.

    Associated Equipment Distributors

On the Record is brought to you by Associated Equipment Distributors — the leading association in North America for the equipment distribution industry.  

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TRANSCRIPT

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Titan International Views Tariffs as ‘Net Positive’ 

Tire manufacturer Titan International reported its fourth quarter and full year 2024 results on February 26. 

Along with announcing the sales results, Paul Reitz, president and CEO, commented on tariffs and their potential impact. He said at this point, Titan doesn’t anticipate the currently planned tariffs to be an issue for the company to navigate. 

However, he went on to say that he does, quote, “think it is a mistake to place a tariff on raw steel without also implementing one on all steel related products from the tariffed countries to close the loop for companies trying to avoid that tariff.” 

Reitz says in the long run, tariffs should be a net positive for Titan, saying quote, “We expect, as we have during more complex and volatile times, that Titan will continue to leverage its leading product portfolio, strong domestic manufacturing and distribution footprint, and global presence to allow us to serve our customers and mitigate their risks better than our competition."

Net sales in the agricultural segment were $157.1 million for the three months ended December 31, 2024, down about 18% vs. the fourth quarter of 2023. For the full year, net sales came in at $788.6 million, down nearly 20% vs. the year before. Titan attributed the change in net sales was primarily driven by lower global demand for agricultural equipment, particularly in North America and Europe.

Reitz noted that conversations with some OEM customers are taking a more positive tone as of late, with several asking about Titan’s readiness to ramp up production in the second half of the year.  

“We expect, as we have during more complex and volatile times, that Titan will continue to leverage its leading product portfolio, strong domestic manufacturing and distribution footprint, and global presence to allow us to serve our customers and mitigate their risks better than our competition."

Dealers on the Move

This week’s Dealer on the Move is Premier Equipment. The Ontario-based John Deere dealership has agreed to purchase W.J. Heaslip of Hagersville, Ontario. Premier Equipment now has 10 locations and 375 employees. 

Automating Everyday Challenges Puts Farmers on Path to Autonomy 

I had the chance to sit in on a panel discussion about autonomy and automation at the National Farm Machinery Show earlier this month. The panel featured leaders from Sabanto, Solinftec, Agtonomy and Case IH. The question about how to get farmers on the path to autonomy came up. Kendal Quandahl, Case IH precision segment lead, says it starts with automating those repeatable tasks that farmers deal with every day.  

“Talking about something like Harvest Command. We know that as the season goes on, as it gets later and later throughout harvest, we’re not making those manual machine adjustments the way we should be on a combine because we’re tired and we just want to get done. Incorporating something like Harvest Command that comes in base on every single Case IH combine that you have, you set your goals and the machine uses a combination of 16 sensors to help adjust everything in the machine by itself to capture as much grain as it possibly can. Really keying in on those common challenges, there’s a lot of features in the market today that help us today that fit well into this automation category.”

With 16 sensors, the Harvest Command system can control 7 adjustments in the combine as conditions change across the field. 

Tracking Crop Prices 

As of February 26, corn prices were $4.78 down 15 cents from our last episode two weeks ago. Soybeans closed at $10.24, down 3 cents. And Wheat closed at $5.66, down 8 cents. 

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Dealers Optimistic Rural Lifestyle Sector Revenues Will Improve in 2025

Following a challenging year in 2024, rural lifestyle dealers are maintaining an optimistic outlook for business in the year ahead. 

According to the 2025 Rural Lifestyle Dealer Business Trends & Outlook report, the majority of dealers are forecasting revenues to be as good or better in 2025 compared to last year. That said, while 2024 revenues didn’t live up the dealers’ forecasts for the year, 84.9% of dealers did report they were profitable in 2024. 

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Looking at their forecasts for 2025, dealers are more optimistic about their chance for improving revenues than they were in their 2024 forecasts. Just over 77% of dealers expect their wholegoods revenues to be as good or better than 2024, with 31.6% forecasting growth of 2-7%. Last year, 52.8% of dealers were forecasting wholegoods revenues to be as good or better than 2023. 

For the year ahead, 14% of dealers expect their wholegoods revenue to be up 8% or more. Another 31.6% of dealers are expecting revenue from wholegoods sales to be in line with 2024. When it comes to dealers who forecast a revenue decline, 15.8% expect wholegoods revenues to drop 2-7% (vs. 26.4% who called for this decline in 2024) while 7.0% are forecasting a decline of 8% or more vs. 20.9% in 2024. 

Dealers’ Forecast 2025 Sales Down 10% 

Ag equipment dealers’ forecast for 2025 sales remained in line with last month, according to Ag Equipment Intelligence’s latest Dealer Sentiments & Business Conditions report. 

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Dealers are calling for sales to be down 10% on average vs. last year. Deere dealers who took the survey are the least optimistic and expect sales to be down 23% year-over-year. That’s down from a forecast of negative 15% in December 2024. 

AGCO dealers expect sales to drop 16% year-over-year, in line with the previous month. Case IH dealers expect a 9% decline and New Holland dealers expect sales to be down 8%. 

Kubota and shortline-only dealers expect sales to be flat as of the latest survey. 

Looking at the OEMs’ outlook, John Deere forecasts North America large ag unit sales down 30% in 2025 while small ag unit sales are forecast down 10%. AGCO forecasts North America large ag sales down ~25% year-over-year, while small ag sales are forecast flat to down 5%.

DataPoint: Equipment Purchase Plans in First Half of 2025

This week’s DataPoint is brought to you by the Dealership Minds Summit. To learn more and to register, visit DealershipMindsSummit.com.

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According to the results of a Farm Futures survey, only 25% of farmers plan to make an equipment purchase in the first half of 2025. But, of those who plan to purchase equipment 40% of them plan to pay with cash. This is followed by 20% who plan to pay with a combination of a trade in, cash down payment and either bank or dealer financing. Another 20% say they would use a cash downpayment and bank or dealer financing. 

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