“We’re a small ag dealer in Vermont where 90-95% of our ag business is with dairy producers. We’re not enjoying all the spoils of our Midwestern counterparts and continue to operate in a very cyclical and volatile ag sector. Add to this the conservative nature of our region’s farmers and the continued climb of equipment prices, and it makes for a very challenging business climate.

“In our region, farmers do not accumulate the hours on equipment as rapidly as those in other parts of the country. Combine all this and the result is a trend in our region for farmers to locate and buy late model used on-roll coming from all of the large fleet or multi-unit deals mentioned in your survey.  The result on our business has been a decline in sales of new 150 horsepower-plus tractors.

 “Currently I do not have any large fleet or multi-unit buyers who are rolling their equipment on any kind of schedule. As long as the commodity prices remain strong and or continue to climb, the trend will continue.”

— Michael Hendy, Hendy Bros. Inc., Middlebury, Vt.