Country Reports - North America

Farm Mechanization Boosts Productivity & Crop Yield

February 2017

Country Reports - North America

Farm Mechanization Boosts Productivity & Crop Yield

February 2017
Haying and forage machinery are types of advanced agricultural equipment whose application is increasing with the rising demand for improved crop yields. It is a kind of specialized planting machinery that has improved the crop yield with minimum human interferences, besides being a cost-effective mechanism. Such machinery is witnessing tremendous adoption with the growing implementation of precision farming technologies and surging demand for hay from livestock producers. In recent years, there has been a rapid increase in the adoption of farm mechanization practices. Farm mechanization helps to achieve timeliness in field operations, increase productivity, and cut down crop production cost, boosting crop yield and farm revenues.

The emphasis on farm mechanization will increase in the coming years owing to the several benefits it offers such as timely, precise, and scientific farm operations, increasing farm input, and efficiency in use of labor, resulting in improved agricultural productivity. In addition, with the growing farm mechanization and farm consolidation practices, there is surging demand for high-capacity farm machinery that provides a high-quality output with an increase in ownership cost and low maintenance. With the growing popularity of such innovative agricultural practices and the subsequent use of advanced agricultural equipment, the market for haying and forage machinery in North America will witness huge growth in the coming years. Extensive research carried out by Technavio's market research analysts predict that the haying and forage machinery market in North America will post a CAGR of around 5 percent by 2020. The constant technological advancements in the farm machinery across the globe has encouraged the agricultural industry to enhance the hay and forage quality, output, cost-effectiveness, and processes like the rate of drying. The latest development gaining momentum in the market is the incorporation of precision farming technologies in agriculture. Precision farming is a technique concept based on observing, measuring, and responding to inter- and intra-field variability in crops. It uses machines that have automated steering and innovations to stimulate productivity and profitability. This technology enables the greater modifications of the machines. Recently, New Holland has received a gold medal from Agritechnica for the advanced precision technology used in the new FR forage series. The haying and forage machinery market in North America is extremely segmented and comprises a vast number of big and mid-sized players. The market is anticipated to experience a sharp rise in the production capacity during the forecast period as the competitors are adopting advanced methods of production. The increase in production capacity will encourage the players to meet the growing demands of haying and forage machinery in the forecast period. Vendors in the market are using their expertise to offer high-performance and technologically advanced haying and forage machinery to provide farmers with upgraded performance machinery with greater value for their investment. During 2015, the haying machinery segment led the haying and forage machinery market in North America and accounted for more than 77 percent of the total market share. Haying machinery can be categorized into balers, mowers, and hay racks. These are used for the production of plant-based feed for animals. The demand for high-capacity haying machinery with advanced features has driven the haying machinery market in North America. However, with the surging demand for preowned haying machinery, the adoption of new haying machinery will decrease in the coming years.