Estimates to determining the agricultural tractor fleet in Mexico

Abstract

Objective: the objective of the study was to know the current state of the national fleet of agricultural machinery. Design/ Methodology/ Approach: an estimate of the tractor fleet was made by adding the number of tractors with one year of lag, plus the number of tractors from national sales, minus the number of tractors leaving the fleet due to the end of their useful life, the period from 2007 to 2027. Results: there is a downward trend in the tractor fleet in the period 2007 to 2027. If the downward trend continues, the tractor fleet will have decreased by 114 thousand units in 2027, compared to the 238 thousand existing in 2007. This means a drop of 52%, compared to the initial year, which would leave the fleet of tractors with 124 thousand units. Limitations/ Implications of the study: the main limitation is the non-existence of official data after 2007. Therefore, in order to know the current state of the national fleet of tractors in Mexico, estimates such as the one carried out in this investigation are required. Findings/ Conclusions: The estimate of the tractor industrial fleet in Mexico indicates that annually the number of tractors that are added is less than the number of obsolete tractors that leave the fleet, which indicates that the rate of mechanization will decrease in the future. To avoid such a trend, the Government is required to support investments in agricultural machinery.