Great Depression tractor sales

The topic of the Great Depression got me thinking about tractor sales and how they would reflect what was the low point of the Depression. The only numbers I have are the JD numbers. Adding them up JD sold

1930 - 26,909 Ds, and the GP series not including the GP-P series
1931 - 12,884 Ds and the GP series
1932 - 1,191 Ds and the GP series
1933 - 825 Ds and the GP series
1934 - 7,095 Ds, GPs series, A series, and the B
1935 - 29,9953 Ds, GP series, A series, and the B series

After that the numbers just get bigger. Looks like 1933 was the peak or lowlight of the Depression at least for Deere. Wonder if the sales numbers from the other manufacturers would reflect the same trend during those years.

Was at a sell a few years back and they had an old Huber tractor. The story was it was purchased to power a sawmill and to farm with. Not long after it was purchased the depression hit. The owner sent a letter to Huber telling them they could not make the payment on it. Huber sent them a letter saying pay when you can. The tractor was paid off in a few year. The buyer got all the papers with it.

On that note I have a old relative whose father bought a new Case combine, cream separator, and I think a pickup in the late 30s in one year. Next year was dry and he didn't have enough money to make the payment for all three things. So he sent just a percentage of what he owned on each item relative to the payment total and an apologetic note hoping for the best and expecting the worst. All three companies mailed him back and said no problem just make up the payments when you can.

My dad was born in 1933. Grandpa said they lived on rabbit and green beans that winter

Dad said 1934 was so dry they cut down the trees so the cows could have the leaves to eat. They were luckey enough to raise a wagon load of sweet potatoes on a piece of sandy bottom ground that year. That was all they had to eat that winter, sweet potatoes and lard gravy. I never knew him to eat sweet potatoes.

I was lucky enough to talk to a couple old guys who had been district managers for McCormick Deering at that time. Not long after the crash, they were ordered to accept any offer that they could get to settle a retail contract. One farmer, with the help of a savvy banker, was able to buy out a $10,000 contract for #310. The company didn't want all that used machinery coming back into inventory. I think every manufacturer did about the same thing. If the tractor was new and unused, they lowered the prices to whatever it took to get them out of inventory, which probably accounts for some good unit numbers during the low of the depression.

Grandpa was called back to take care of his parents around 1925, his duty as the youngest. He farmed their little patch plus worked off-farm, then bought the place next door. Still worked several jobs, building roads or loading train cars with fruit.

He was working for one local general store, when they had a fire in late 1929 or 1930. The family that owned the store couldn't scrape the money together to rebuild, but the insurance company man offered the business to Grandpa. He bought it for less than the value of the inventory that was salvageable, I can't remember if it was $300 or $3000. They cleaned things up and moved into a building across the tracks. He took one of the original family brothers on as partner, because he was the butcher and Grandpa didn't know how to cut the meat.

The store was his life for the next 35 years, providing a decent living, in exchange for long hours. He would talk of all his customers as we drove around the area, times when he loaned a family $300 to get a new well, or $2000 for a downpayment on the farm. All while never making more than $10K in a single year.

Most all the customers were on credit, some by the month, some by the year. When he retired and sold out in 1965, he kept the receivables as part of the deal. We cleaned the attic out to remodel 40 years later, and found the box of ledgers and letters to and from people who still owed money, most so thankful for carrying them through those tough times. Most of the folks who beat him out of money were family members.

sorry, tl;dr. times were tough

During the roaring 20's Fordson had 50 percent of the tractor market. Many tractor manufacturers that could not compete with Fordson's price either went out of business or were bought out and merged into larger corporations. Rowcrop tractors were a new product that didn't compete directly with Fordson. Look at the total tractor sales for a better gauge of the farm economy.