If you’re expecting delivery of a new no-till planter or no-till drill before spring, you probably need to make sure your older rig is ready to head to the field. Due to serious supply chain issues affecting the farm machinery industry, many earlier-promised, even paid-for planters and drills aren’t going to arrive in time for spring work

A recent dealer survey conducted by two other Lessiter Media publications, Ag Equipment Intelligence newsletter and Farm Equipment magazine, shows farm machinery deliverability is a major concern. In a mid-November survey, dealers were asked for their projections on whether 2022 planter and drill orders would be delivered too late for use this spring.

More than 70% of these farm equipment dealers expect to have a portion of their planter orders fail to show up from the manufacturer in time for spring seeding. In fact, 27% of dealers anticipated more than one-third of their planter orders would not be delivered on schedule this year.

Few Last-Minute Choices 

With many growers facing higher incomes due to high corn, soybean and wheat prices, farm equipment purchases appeared earlier to be a way to reduce the tax load for 2021. However, growers in a mid-November No-Till Farmer and Strip-Till Farmer survey that looked at the end-of-year spending plans weren’t thinking of buying no-till planters or drills due to limited equipment choices or delivery worries.

Instead, numerous growers have apparently decided to concentrate on repairing existing equipment rather than buying new machines. “We’re pre-ordering parts not only to…