Faced with falling crop prices and rising costs, many farmers in Western Canada are squeezing as much life as they can out of older equipment — which they say works their fields just as smoothly as the new stuff.
For Jason Schultz, the idea of buying vital equipment for his central Alberta farm, such as new tractors and combines, seems decidedly out of reach.
“I just can’t make the numbers work,” Schultz said in a recent interview. “I haven’t purchased anything since 2022 and the last big purchase was (in) 2021.
“The numbers just don’t pencil at all when you’re talking $400 an hour to run a tractor,” Schultz said, noting he has no plans to buy new machines anytime soon. New combines can often cost nearly $1 million, while tractors can soar upwards of $1.4 million.
This frugality is weighing on some of the biggest companies in the industry.
Deere & Co., the maker of John Deere tractors and other heavy equipment, said last week its net income dropped nearly 30 per cent to around US$5 billion for the 2025 fiscal year. The company expects its 2026 earnings could drop even further , by as much as 20 per cent, down to $4 billion.
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