As of Jan 1, 2021, Alliance Tire Group and Alliance Tire Americas, Inc. changed their names to Yokohama Off-Highway Tires and Yokohama Off-Highway Tires America, Inc respectively. The Alliance, Galaxy and Primex brands and product names remain unchanged. Product information is available at www.yokohama-oht.com.

The team at Alliance Tire Americas had a fun and very productive time in Decatur, IL at the Farm Progress 2015 Show last week. 

Commodity Prices Are Down and Farm Expenses Are Up

A recent USDA report detailing that commodity prices were down and farm expenses were up came as no surprise to farmers across the country. Crop producers have been caught in a squeeze for the past couple of years as input prices have failed to drop as fast as commodity prices did. (You can read about it here and here…that second one also includes a very sobering graph.)

The fallout has certainly hit the farm equipment industry hard. Most manufacturers and dealers say sales of new machinery are down 25% or so. That’s no surprise, as many farmers bought new equipment when cash was flowing in, and can run it comfortably to weather the down cycle.

We’ve all seen lean times in the notoriously cyclical agricultural market, and we’ve seen that the people who weather the storm best are those who make every asset count. When it comes to machinery, proper maintenance is the golden rule.

For farmers who have some cash under the mattress, or are enjoying today’s high livestock prices, this is a great time to buy new or used equipment. This may also be a great time to scale up by buying some of the massive inventory of large trade-ins that haven’t been absorbed by larger farmers.

The Demand for Asphalt is on the Rise

Smell that asphalt? That’s the smell of money for many Galaxy customers. Better yet, there’s more to come—analysts are predicting that U.S. paving asphalt demand with increase annually by 3.1% between now and 2019 as governments scramble to maintain our aging road system. By 2019, that will amount to almost 18 million metric tons of asphalt per year, according to Freedonia Market Research.

Soil Compaction and Yield Potential 

It’s one thing to hear about soil compaction and imagine what it’s doing to yield potential, dragging it down as much as 70 percent in some crops, but it’s another thing to actually see it.