Following on from publishing the final agricultural tractor registration figures for 2020, the AEA has now released the breakdown of registrations by region and power band.

Figures show that almost all parts of the UK saw a decline in registrations between 2019 and 2020. Only the South East of England saw a fractional rise in registrations. 

"However," says Stephen Howarth, agricultural economist at the AEA, "the rate of decline was smaller in the North of England and Wales than elsewhere. The sharpest fall was in the Home Counties, with the South West and Northern Ireland also seeing declines of over 20%, compared with 2019."

The decline in registrations was seen across most of the power range, apart from the top and bottom. There was a small rise in the number of compact tractors (50hp and under) being registered and there was also a rise among machines at the other end of the range; 25% more tractors over 320hp were registered in 2020 than in 2019. There was a modest fall among machines over 200hp but all broad power bands below that level (and above 50hp) saw year-on-year falls of 15-20%.

Stephen Howarth continued, "The rise in registrations at the top end of the power range meant that the average power of agricultural tractors registered during the year topped 170hp for the first time, reaching 171.0hp. That represents a rise of nearly 30hp, compared with a decade ago. Including compact tractors in the calculation brings the average for all machines registered down to 153.4hp."