It's been a hectic start to the year for seeding equipment manufacturers as farmers gear up to plant what is hoped to be another above average crop.
Excel Agriculture sales and marketing manager Stewart Kings said the start of each year was always busy as they were building and delivering machines for the winter plant.
The company manufactures ploughing, cultivation and planting equipment and its planters are often coupled with Gyral air seeders for fertilising.
It is owned by Great Western Corporation, which is also the parent company of Gyral Implements and Leader Truck Bodies.
Products from all three brands are manufactured in Toowoomba, Qld.
"For 2023 the machines that we are building now and continue to build have been ordered throughout last year," Mr Kings said.
"The farmers that are organised know they just can't get a machine when they want it."
Mr Kings said there were some build spots available in 2023 and farmers ordering now could take delivery of their machine by the end of the year.
He said they already had orders in the system for early 2024.
Excel Agriculture is among the manufacturers that have struggled with supply chain challenges and a shortage of good staff in recent years.
An hour up the road at Dalby, Simplicity Australia general manager Troy Law likened the situation to an incident on the side of a highway where traffic quickly jams up.
He said this is what had happened to most manufacturers, Simplicity included, and a result supply was disjointed and disrupted.
Mr Law said they had remodelled their production schedule and many within the supply chain had been reeducated when it comes to supply lead times.
"Through the COVID period obviously two things happened; one is the supply chain got very messy and there was definitely an impact from that," he said,
"Additionally, we had come out of a drought period and people were proceeding toward purchasing again.
"There was some 'toilet paper' syndrome in the agricultural sector as well."
Mr Law said its dealership network did not have stock available at present.
He said the company, which manufactures around 150 machines each year, had production schedules into the early half of 2025.
"Within that schedule there is a volume of orders which are not retailed," he said.
"If you are a customer going in to buy from a dealer, this doesn't mean that there's not a machine that's in our system that's unallocated that you can't pick up."
Mr Law said they had never before held an order book as large as what they have at present.
"We have had order banks somewhat near this for very short periods but never for continuous periods," he said.
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For farmers who urgently need seeding and tillage equipment, Australian dealers of CNH Industrial's Canadian manufactured Flexi-Coil products have stock available.
CNH Industrial Australia and New Zealand seeding and tillage national sales manager David Gibson said there were good levels of Flexi-Coil's ST820 cultivator and 5500 air drill on dealership floors.
Mr Gibson said Flexi-Coil's products were renowned for their technology advancements, accuracy and efficiency, and just over 70 years later were still delivering on what customers demanded to keep their businesses as profitable and productive as possible.
"It's pleasing that as we approach the time for seeding for many of our agricultural regions, we can tell customers we have strong availability of seeding and tillage products should they need to renew or upgrade their machinery fleet either right now before seeding or those who wish to take advantage before the end of the instant asset write off on June 30," he said.
"Australian conditions are among the most challenging in the world, so the best equipment is needed to stand up to a variety of weather, terrain and soil types and conditions.
"Seeding and tillage equipment has to deliver accurate and consistent results, despite the challenges, with a considered investment decision at the start of the season reaping the benefits at the business end."
