Ag equipment dealers reported year-over-year sales growth slowed to 6% on average in November, down from 9% in October. Deere dealers accounted for the majority of the slowdown as growth returned to prior months' trends at 5% in November from 10% in October.

The current farm machinery sales trend is reported in the December 2011 "Dealer Trends and Business Outlook" based on surveys of 245 North American ag equipment dealers conducted during the second week of December.

Other findings included the 2012 outlook for machinery sales remained unchanged at 4% growth. Looking out to 2012, dealers maintained their forecast for 2012 on average and expect 4% sales growth for the full year, consistent with the findings in October.

Dealer optimism also moderated somewhat in November. The AEI-CRC Dealer Optimism Index, a measure of sentiment among dealers compared to the prior month, moderated to a net 21% of dealers reporting they have a more optimistic outlook now vs. 26% last month (33% are more optimistic; 55% same; 12% are less optimistic).