Abstract

Used farm machinery values play a critical role in farm management and in assessing the financial health of the agricultural sector. However, the heterogeneity of machines, particularly regarding embedded technology and usage, complicates efforts to isolate the factors that influence prices. This study leverages a detailed dataset from Tractor Zoom to estimate the effects of machine characteristics and market conditions on auction prices of used 300 to 450 horsepower tractors. We find a nonlinear relationship between machine usage and price: tractors with fewer than 500 hours of use lose approximately 118β’π‘β’π‘’β’π‘Ÿβ’π‘Žβ’π‘‘β’π‘‘β’π‘–β’π‘‘β’π‘–β’π‘œβ’π‘›β’π‘Žβ’π‘™β’β„Žβ‘π‘œβ’π‘’β’π‘Ÿ,π‘€β’β„Žβ‘π‘–β’π‘™β’π‘’β’π‘‘β’π‘Ÿβ’π‘Žβ’π‘β’π‘‘β’π‘œβ’π‘Ÿβ’π‘ β’π‘€β’π‘–β’π‘‘β’β„Žβ‘π‘šβ’π‘œβ’π‘Ÿβ’π‘’β’π‘‘β’β„Žβ‘π‘Žβ’π‘›β’10,000β’β„Žβ‘π‘œβ’π‘’β’π‘Ÿβ’π‘ β’π‘ β’β„Žβ‘π‘œβ’π‘€β’π‘œβ’π‘›β’π‘™β’π‘¦β’π‘Žβ’π‘€β’π‘’β’π‘Žβ’π‘˜β’π‘™β’π‘¦β’π‘ β’π‘–β’π‘”β‘π‘›β’π‘–β’π‘“β‘π‘–β’π‘β’π‘Žβ’π‘›β’π‘‘β’π‘‘β’π‘’β’π‘β’π‘™β’π‘–β’π‘›β’π‘’β’π‘œβ’π‘“β‘π‘Žβ’π‘β’π‘œβ’π‘’β’π‘‘2 per hour. We also document pronounced seasonal patterns, with lower prices during the Midwest crop-growing season. These findings provide new evidence on machinery valuation and offer updated insights to inform farmers’ machinery replacement decisions.

Comments

This is the publisher PDF ofΒ Pearson M, Fiechter CM, Campbell A. A hedonic analysis of farm tractor auction prices. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review. Published online 2026:1-19. Published CC-BY by Cambridge University Press, the version of record and ADA Title II compliant version is available in HTML at DOI: 10.1017/age.2026.10027.

Keywords

Auction prices, farm machinery, hedonic model, tractor

Date of this Version

5-12-2026

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