DealerNews:

Andy Goodman, president of the Iowa-Nebraska Equipment Dealers Association, has seen circumstances recently in which a bank asked an equipment dealer to pay a lien for a piece of equipment a farmer had traded. The dealer didn’t know it had a lien against it.

“We’ve gotten several calls from worried dealers, Goodman said. “What surprised the dealers is the equipment didn’t have a specific lien against it. Rather, it was included in a farm ‘blanket’ or ‘dragnet’ clause on a security lien for an operating loan. In those cases, the bank technically may own the equipment the dealer bought from the farmer who later defaulted on his bank loan.”

Rocky Mountain Dealerships Inc. announced gains in its first quarter of 2015.

Total revenues increased by 11.2% to $220.4 million for the quarter ending March 31. Same-store used agriculture equipment sales increased by $32.4 million to $82.8 million, and product support revenues increased by 6.9% to $24 million. The Canadian dealership group said in its release that a moderate winter and early spring led to an earlier start to the 2015 farming season. The weather, combined with stable commodity prices and an increase in grain deliveries via rail, increased demand for used agriculture equipment sales during the first quarter.

Because of the increase in sales of used equipment and fewer new-equipment procurements, Rocky Mountain has avoided the build-up in equipment inventory typical of the first quarter.

Mazergroup, a New Holland dealership complex based in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada, soon will finalize the purchase of Southeastern Farm Equipment in Steinbach, Manitoba. Mazergroup, the largest New Holland dealership in North America, now will have 14 dealerships across Manitoba and southeastern Saskatchewan. Mazergroup began as Mazer Implements in 1959. Southeastern Farm Equipment was established in 1972. Mazergroup will finalize its purchase of Southeastern on July 1.

AgriVision Inc., of Glenwood, Iowa, is cutting 28 people from its full-time workforce of 350 because of lagging sales, according to the Omaha World-Herald.  The Deere dealership also is offering early retirement plans to staff members. AgriVision has 13 locations in southern and south-central Iowa and was formed Jan. 1, 2014, by the merger of Barker Implement and A&M Green Power, which trace their history back more than 100 years.