Sales of new agricultural machinery during 2020, in Spain

 As is the tradition every year, we show the data of the sales of new machinery in Spain during 2020, these data are extracted from the information published by the Ministry of Agriculture (the information is published monthly here). It is a summary of most interesting data in our opinion. We emphasise that the figures are not as bad as we expected after such a tragic year.

The number of new tractors sold has decreased to 10,676 (in 2019 it was 12,156). This figure remains at around the 10,000 new tractors sold annually which is usually the reference figure for many manufacturers, so it is within the expected pattern and can therefore be said to be a good year as far as new tractor sales are concerned.

New tractor sales by brand continue to be led by John Deere (2,429 units in 2020, 2,972 units in 2019 and 2,866 units in 2018) and New Holland (1,403 units in 2020, 2,021 units in 2019 and 2,059 units in 2018). John Deere retains sales leadership by commercial this year. In terms of new tractor sales by brand, we would like to highlight the increases of Deutz-Fahr and Fendt. Next you can see in the graph the sales by brand:

On the other hand, another interesting fact is the best-selling brand in terms of average power where Fendt continues to lead the market for another year with 188 hp/tractor (178 hp/tractor in 2019 and 176 hp/tractor in 2018). You can find more information in the following tables:

The best-selling tractor was the John Deere 6115MC. It is the best-selling tractor one more year again. We assume that this is the last one because it is discontinued and replaced by the new 6M Series.

Regarding new farming machinery sales in 2019, we would like to show a chart where you can see monthly sales. You have data about tractors, trailers, tillage machinery, seed drills, mowers or harvesting machinery, etc. We would like to mention that a total amount of 32,204 new machines were sold in 2019 (35,430 units in 2019, 41,249 units in 2018 and 37,667 units in 2017) which implies a significant drop from the previous year for almost all types of machinery. A curious fact that we would like to comment it is the sale of seed drills, which had a strong increase in sales in the month of June (415) thanks to the Plan Renove.

We highlight the following data about new farming machinery sales:

• New trailers sales: 3,834 units in 2020, 3,506 units in 2019 and 5,961 units in 2018.
• Regarding trailed or mounted machinery:
• Soil tillage machinery: 2,914 units in 2020, 2,990 units in 2019 and 3,850 units in 2018
• Seed drills machinery: 932 units in 2020, 971 units in 2019 and 936 units in 2018.
• Crop protection machinery: 6,234 units in 2020, 7,158 units in 2019 and 8,571 units in 2018.
• Spreaders and felitizing machinery: 2,254 units in 2020, 2,175 units in 2019 and 3,471 units in 2018.
• Harvesters’ machinery: 2,174 units in 2020, 2,020 units in 2019 and 2,706 units in 2018.

Apart from that, we have to give special mention to the new combine harvesters sold in Spain which in 2020 was 216 units compared to 201 units in 2019 and 285 units in 2018, being the leader Claas again. This sector is completely monopolized by Claas (83 units), New Holland (69 units) and John Deere (46 units). It is also worth noting that the other manufacturers, which years ago seemed to have a strong market share, so they are becoming increasingly diluted each year, with sales figures that are practically symbolic. Deutz-Fahr (6 units), Massey Ferguson (6 units), Fendt (3 units) and CaseIH (3 units).

We want to give a especial mention about sales of self-propelled grape harvesters, which this year are up on previous years as 111 new units have been sold (107 units in 2019, 100 units in 2018 and 80 units in 2017). Once again, New Holland leads the market with 65% of sales. We can conclude that the market has been stable for several years with around 100 new units sold. We think that this is a good amount so we think the wine and olive sectors are sectors with great potential.

Other graphs on new tractor sales:

Finally, we show you a few pictures of our friends Esteban and “Los Mudis”, who with the purchase of their Massey Ferguson 5713S and Deutz-Fahr 6215 Agrotron contributed to increasing annual sales of new tractors in 2020. Enjoy them with many working hours!!

Versión en español.

Sowing days with the Airsem DM seed drill

The last few post were dedicated to soil preparation with the aim of having the soil ready (good seed bed) in order to perform a conventional sowing. In May we decided to change our seed drill (Solá Neumasem 799) for a new Gil Airsem DM 6040; in the purchase process we also considered the option of buying an Aguirre seed drill. After the sowing tasks carried out in the last two months, the conclusion is that the change has been a success because our old seed drill was too heavy for our tractor. 

The Gil Airsem DM seed drill is a new model that the Spanish manufacturer "Sembradoras Gil" has launched on the market to be used in direct sowing, minimum tillage or conventional sowing. The main difference for each of these sowing techniques is the spring configuration used in the arms. In our case, it is configured for conventional sowing. The main characteristics of our model are below: 

• Working width: 6m. 
• Distance between furrows: 15cm (40 furrows). 
• Polyethylene hopper of  2,000 litre.   
• Mechanical turbine at 1,000 r.p.m. 
• Mechanical distributor. 
• Transport width: 2.5m. 
• Weight seed drill: 1,600kg. 
• 4-row sowing system. 
• 4 depth control wheels. 
• No harrowing implement incorporated. 

Once the sowing tasks were finished (cereals and pulse vegetables), our sensations were very positive. The seed drill is light but very robust so our tractor (Deutz-Fahr M600 Agrotron) works very fine. The depth control is very suitable and effective and the adaptation to the ground of the whole seed drill is fantastic so we have fields with a very uniform and rapid growing up. The ideal situation for the seed is that it is buried only around 3cm (it should be very superficial). 

We must also point out some things that could be improve (considering that they are minimal). These are some tasks to be considered for the future: 

• The hopper lids for another more accessible solution (such as a tarpaulin).  
• Add more functionalities to the computer.

Versión en español.