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 beat prices, but more so to ensure that we get them in time,” indicated one grower.

A concern among growers anticipating late planter delivery is that they won’t want to switch rigs in the middle of the planting season. These growers are likely to ask a dealer to delay delivery until the spring planting season is over to stretch out the warranty period while others will prefer to wait and order a newer planter for 2023.

For farmers anticipating that equipment deliveries will improve this year, more sobering news awaits. Nearly two-thirds of dealers expect 2022 to be even a worse year than 2021 for timely delivery of new farm equipment.

A word of caution tax-wise on equipment that was paid for but not delivered prior to the end of 2021: Many dealers and farmers believed having a serial number for the equipment listed on the invoice would meet the Internal Revenue Service rules to quality as a pre-purchase. But numerous accountants have warned this may not be the case. If machinery purchased before the end of 2021 to take a 100% bonus depreciation was not actually delivered, it’s likely this tax deduction will not be allowed until 2022 or 2023.

Looking at our survey data specifically for no-tillers, there were a few shifts in spending compared to farmers using more intensive tillage practices.

One of the biggest differences occurred with diesel fuel, as 42% of intensive tillage farmers pre-paid for diesel fuel. This compares to only 17% of no-tillers who use considerably less fuel per acre.

Parts a Major Concern

When it came to pre-paying for parts needed for the 2022 cropping season, 35% of growers using more intensive tillage systems did so compared to only 31% of no-tillers. But while growers showed a desire to stock up on parts before the end of the year, two-thirds of the surveyed dealers felt it would not lead to any significant increase in end-of-the year parts sales.

With liquid and granular fertilizer and chemicals, slightly over 40% of growers using more intensive tillage increased year-end purchases. However, only about one-third of no-tillers increased these year-end purchases.

With anticipated no-till planter and drill purchases, 11% of growers using more intensive tillage practices expected to invest more dollars prior to the end of the year than in other years. Only 9% of no-tillers expected to make year-end seeding equipment investments for 2021 tax savings.

With no-tillers having less dollars invested in equipment, maybe they aren’t as anxious to be relying on pre-payment plans for machinery to reduce their tax bill. But like most growers, they’re certainly concerned about limited choices and availability of essential products needed for the 2022 cropping season.