Used combines in the middle of the market, machines with 1,500 to 2,000 hours selling for $150,000 to $300,000, have become hard to find in the United States, dealers and analysts told Successful Farming. "We have a gaping inventory hole in terms of machines in the middle, price-wise," said Eric Hoober of Hoober Inc., a Case IH dealer covering five eastern states.

Supply shortages in 2021-2022 and five years of thin inventory have pushed farmers to keep running their combines and repair them instead; Hoober said his dealership's winter service numbers were as high as they have ever been. Andy Campbell, director of insights at Tractor Zoom, said farmers who bought new in the good years have moved back to buying second-hand now that row-crop profits are lower, blocking the flow of low-hour machines from first to second to third owners.

Campbell said year-on-year used Class 8 combine supply is down 13 percent, and new combine orders have fallen sharply over three years. Meanwhile low-hour, late-model machines, especially Class 9 and larger, are backing up on dealer lots, priced out of step with today's market. Auction values for low-hour Class 7 and 8 combines fell about 8 percent from last summer.

Hoober described 2025 as a buyer's market and 2026 as "maybe more neutral", with inventories now lower. Both men advised buyers to weigh resale value and fit: a used Class 9 fetches about the same as a Class 8 with the same hours, and head sizes must match planters and terrain. The report was written by Curt Bennink.

Photo: Flominator / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Source: Successful Farming