As a farmer, I don’t think I’ve ever met another farmer who hates modern equipment. I’m not sure where that narrative has come from. We drool over the latest te

As a farmer, I don’t think I’ve ever met another farmer who hates modern equipment. I’m not sure where that narrative has come from. We drool over the latest tech. I know many who choose older equipment for financial reasons, as the article suggests. Modern equipment is insanely expensive to purchase and is simply out of reach of the smaller farmer. If older equipment was actually a hot commodity, more than newer equipment, economics tells us that older equipment would be worth more than newer equipment and that is simply not the case. Price falls consistently with age for a comparable machine. They are paying more for a 1980 model because someone else is paying even more for the 2000 model. There are plenty of basic tractors on the market with little in the way of electronics. But building a new tractor is expensive. While they come in well below the cost of a decked out John Deere, they are still a lot more expensive than a 40 year old tractor.