In late May, the Equipment Dealers Assn. (EDA), St. Louis, shared the just compiled results of its 2017 Dealer-Manufacturer Relations Survey with Ag Equipment Intelligence. EDA conducts the survey annually, in which dealers rate the companies whose products they carry to the market.

The survey compiles data and organizes it by the classifications of manufacturers of full-line equipment, tractor, shortlines and outdoor power equipment. The survey was available to dealers between Feb. 15 through March 17, 2017, and included manufacturers ratings for 11 key categories of operations and a separate overall satisfaction rating. In total, more than 48 manufacturers were rated and more than 2,321 dealers participated in the survey.

The table above shows the results for the full-line farm equipment manufacturers and with the criteria dealers consider the most important to their operations (from left to right). John Deere dealers rated their manufacturer the highest in 9 of the categories and with the highest composite score. Deere was also recognized as the “Dealer’s Choice” by the EDA.

Kubota, meanwhile, scored highest in product quality (the number one criterion, according to dealers) and overall satisfaction. The 2017 edition was the first time that Kubota was rated as a “full-line manufacturer,” reflecting the addition of hay tools, tillage and planting equipment to its product lineup in recent years through its acquisitions of Kverneland in 2012 and Great Plains and Land Pride in 2016.

New Holland had the lowest scores of the full-line manufacturers in 7 of the 12 categories, consistent with its historical last-place ranking by its dealers.