US farm puzzles: Crop prices up, tractor sales down

摘要

Demand for corn and soyabeans that grow on the farms in Chicago surged last year, sending the prices that farmers could expect at local elevators sharply higher.But Clark Stoller, a farm equipment salesman whose family operates a dealership on Ottawa's main drag, isn't seeing a lot of farmers coming into his showroom flush with cash, shopping for tractors and combines. Neither are other dealers - and that is unusual. Typically, there's a "strong relationship" between crop prices and equipment sales, says Ann Dulgan, an analyst at Bear Stearns, but this year equipment sales are way off.