UK agricultural tractor registrations of 50hp and over for full year 2025 fell 14.2% to 8,791 units when compared to 2024. The Agricultural Engineer’s Association (AEA), which collects the data, says this is the lowest figure since it began monitoring tractor registrations in the 1960s, and almost certainly the lowest level since before World War II.
The December 2025 monthly total was 541 units, a fall of 31.6% from December 2024, and 25% down on the average for December over the last five years.
“The tractor market remains at a low ebb, due to a lack of confidence in the farming sector, prompted by factors including uncertainty about future agricultural and tax policy, challenging weather conditions, increased costs and weak prices for some commodities, notably arable crops,” notes the AEA.
“The fall in registrations doesn’t quite tell the whole story, as modern tractors are much larger (and hence can cover more ground) than those in earlier years. Nevertheless, while there have been similarly challenging periods in the past, for example in the late 1990s/early 2000s, last year was certainly one of the most difficult the industry has experienced.”
The average horsepower of tractors sold in 2025 fell, for the first time since 2021. The latest year had an average power of 173hp, from just under 180hp in calendar 2024. The number of tractors over 240hp registered was down by nearly a third from the prior year, “reflecting the challenging financial position of arable farmers, who are the main buyers of these larger machines,” says the AEA.
By region, the AEA records that sales fell in every area of the UK save for the southwest, where tractor sales increased slightly in 2025. “That perhaps reflects the better fortunes of the dairy sector, which makes up a sizeable proportion of agriculture in that region,” explains the AEA. “The southeast of England and Northern Ireland also saw relatively small declines, but the rest of the country recorded year-on-year falls of at least 10%. Yorkshire, the East Midlands and North Wales were the worst affected regions, with less than three-quarters as many registrations as in 2024.”