Providing Fairness in Agreements Between Farm Equipment Dealers & Manufacturers

Current disparity in bargaining power between farm equipment dealers and manufacturers make it seriously difficult for dealers to operate their business profitably.  Agreements that most dealers are practically compelled to accept severely restrict dealers’ ability to market equipment of competing manufacturers.  And dealers are required to perform the manufacturer’s customer warranty services and repairs and carry an extensive inventory of service parts and equipment at significant cost to the dealer without being provided adequate compensation.  This situation seriously and adversely affects the future ability of farm equipment dealers to stay in business.  If substantial numbers of dealers do go out of business, farmers will have increasing difficulty in purchasing quality farm equipment at a reasonable price.

House Bill 1498 and Senate Bill 1151 would amend the Pennsylvania Fair Dealership Law to better ensure onerous demands of manufacturers are not imposed upon farm equipment dealers in dealer agreements.

Pennsylvania Farm Bureau is urging support for the legislation contained in House Bill 1498 and Senate Bill 1151 to ensure farm equipment dealers are treated fairly by equipment manufacturers in dealership agreements.