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CLAAS EXECUTIVE VP RABY ON THE CURRENT AG MACHINERY MARKET
Aug. 18, 2025
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| Brownfield's Kellan Heavican interviews Eric Raby from CLAAS in Fresno, California. |
by Kellan Heavican, Brownfield Ag News
Fresno, CA -- A global equipment manufacturer says there are several factors impacting the current farm machinery market.
Eric Raby, senior vice president for the Americas with CLAAS says they're seeing a lesser impact from tariffs and more from a sluggish farm economy. "Because of the market being a little bit depressed than what it has been. We have a higher inventory of machines that weren't impacted by the tariffs, and I think we have some time before we see the full effect of that."
He says trade agreements have been reached in most of their major markets. "From a machinery perspective, we look at Canada and the EU and those markets have pretty much come to terms with some form of an arrangement."
However, he tells Brownfield there's still some uncertainty in the future. "I still think there needs to be some clarity as it relates to steel and aluminum because they have separate rates. USMCA is another area that impacts North American trade and there are some things that we need to look at.
Raby says they are still looking at expanding production in South America in countries like Argentina. "It may be more cost effective to do that because they are usually the same machines that we do, and the transit time could be less than from shipping from Europe."
He says the company plans to absorb some price increases and not pass it on to customers.
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