FORT COLLINS, Colo. — A Northern Colorado farmer recently told Denver7 to talk to local farm equipment businesses after discussing the financial challenges farmers face.
That conversation led us to a Fort Collins farm equipment business to find out how drought and high diesel prices are affecting its customers and operations.
Kevin Crow, a sales coordinator at Ron’s Equipment Company, says the locally owned business has been selling and repairing farm equipment in Northern Colorado for more than 40 years.
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“We’ve been in business over 40 years,” Crow said. The company primarily serves large farming operations.
Crow says the business has also seen a downturn among hobby farms, which he believes could be partly tied to the ongoing drought.
The drought is not the only challenge.
Crow says higher diesel prices are also increasing operating costs, from transporting equipment to servicing and repairing machines.
“Parts have gone up, service part calls have gone up, and overall, just costs are getting more expensive,” Crow said. He believes those higher costs are also steering some customers away from buying new, more expensive equipment.
Those transportation costs can be high.
“Just hauling one of these machines around can cost thousands of dollars, even just in a one-way trip,” Crow said.
Some of those increased costs can eventually reach customers.
Crow says the company is trying to absorb as much of those costs as possible rather than passing them directly on to farmers.
“We want to help the customers out as much as we can without pushing that cost onto them,” he said.
