Authors: Brian E. Mills and Kevin Kim
Farm equipment is a significant investment, second only to land investment for farm operations. Therefore, it is important to understand how equipment prices change over time and how that can impact a farm’s bottom line. Mississippi State University collects equipment price data every year for a large number of tractors, harvesters, implements, etc. (Gregory et al. 2025). Using that data, we can see how equipment prices have changed since 2019 and what impact that would have on costs per acre.
Figure 1 shows the purchase price for a 200-249 horsepower tractor across time. In 2019, the cost of buying this tractor was around $191,000. For 2026, the cost of this same size tractor is now $327,000, an increase of 71% (well above the rate of inflation). Also included in Figure 1 are the costs per acre for that tractor. Costs per acre are based on machine cost calculations that include labor, fuel, interest, taxes, insurance, housing, and depreciation costs. In this case, assuming that the tractor is used over 2,000 acres, the costs per acre for this tractor increased from $27.24/ac up to $41.11/ac. In other words, the same size tractor today is going to cost you $13.86/ac more than it did 7 years ago if your acreage has not changed. A producer would have to use the new tractor over 3,018 acres in order to have the same costs per acre, $27.24/ac, as it did in 2019. These per acre costs do go down on occasion, particularly when fuel prices or interest rates decline.
The purchase price and costs per acre for a cotton picker are shown in Figure 2. From 2019 to 2026, the price of a cotton picker has increased from $777,000 to $1,100,000, a 41% increase, resulting in an increase in costs per acre from $126.35/ac to $189.34/ac for the cotton picker. Lastly, the change in purchase price of a 12-row planter increased from $76,800 in 2019 to $123,600 in 2026, a 61% increase (Figure 3). This results in planter costs per acre increasing from $12.26/ac to $19.76/ac from 2019 to 2026.
Clearly, farm equipment prices have significantly increased and are likely to continue. Additionally, higher purchase costs for equipment can lead to higher financing needs and additional debt being incurred by producers. If producers are not spreading the cost of more expensive equipment across more acres, their costs of production will go up. The trend makes it harder for smaller producers to remain profitable and encourages farms to get larger and larger through economies of scale. Buying used or leasing are options to consider. Of course, some will just keep older equipment longer. Other options include equipment sharing partnerships or doing custom work for others to spread your equipment cost across more acres.
Mills, Brian E., and Kevin Kim. “Farm Equipment Prices Continue to Rise.” Southern Ag Today 6(13.1). March 23, 2026. Permalink
