John Deere Maintains Leadership Whilst Specialist Manufacturers Experience Dynamic Shifts
Melbourne, October 2025 – The inaugural Q3 2025 Agricultural Market Brand Consideration Report from Retain Media provides a detailed snapshot of consumer interest across Australia’s agricultural machinery sector. Based on more than 350,000 search queries collected each month throughout the quarter, this comprehensive report reveals the most-searched agricultural brands nationally, highlighting John Deere’s continued dominance whilst significant movements among specialist manufacturers reflect evolving farmer priorities.
Key Findings Include:
- John Deere maintained market leadership with 19.2% search share, declining 3.0% from Q2 but commanding nearly a fifth of all agricultural machinery searches, with the brand sitting just 1.5 percentage points below its Q4 2024 position.
- MacDon delivered the category’s strongest performance, surging from 1.2% to 1.5% — a remarkable 25.0% relative increase that demonstrates growing interest in the Canadian harvesting specialist’s offerings across both the All Brands and Shortline categories.
- Massey Ferguson strengthened its second-place position with 15.4%, posting a 0.7% relative increase from Q2 and climbing 6.2% since Q4 2024, reflecting growing market confidence in the British manufacturer.
- Shortline segment experienced significant volatility, with Bourgault plummeting 37.9% (from 5.8% to 3.6%) and Flexi-Coil falling 34.6% (from 2.6% to 1.7%) as seeding equipment manufacturers experienced normalisation after earlier spikes.
- United Heavy Industries posted impressive mainline growth, surging 12.5% from 2.4% to 2.7%, demonstrating growing interest in the Chinese manufacturer’s comprehensive equipment lineup.
- Kuhn delivered the mainline category’s strongest performance, jumping 22.2% from 0.9% to 1.1%, whilst Claas posted a 9.6% increase in the mainline segment.
The report introduces dedicated shortline and mainline categories, with shortline manufacturers focusing on specialist equipment like seeding, spraying, and hay machinery, whilst mainline brands produce comprehensive tractor and equipment lineups. This segmentation reveals distinct market dynamics, with shortline brands experiencing greater volatility driven by seasonal purchasing patterns and specific operational needs.
In the farm bike and ATV/UTV segments, the Honda CT125 maintained commanding leadership with 37.7%, whilst the CFMOTO CFORCE 1000 dominated utility vehicles at 4.9%. The Suzuki Trojan 200 posted impressive 16.3% growth, and the Can-Am Defender Max surged 12.5%, highlighting farmer preference for work capability over pure performance.
“Our inaugural agricultural machinery results reveal a market where legacy brands still hold considerable sway, but where farmers are increasingly willing to explore alternatives based on value, innovation, and local expertise,” said Brian Sullivan, Director at Retain Media. “MacDon’s exceptional 25% surge and United Heavy Industries’ 12.5% mainline growth signal emerging opportunities among specialist and value-focused manufacturers, whilst the stark corrections in the shortline segment demonstrate the volatility inherent in specialty equipment categories.”
The report notes that Kubota faced challenges, declining 8.5% in Q3 to reach 10.7%, whilst several mid-tier brands posted solid gains, including Vermeer (+10.5%), United Heavy Industries (+15.8% in All Brands), and Hardi (+7.1%), demonstrating steady momentum across diverse equipment segments.
For a full breakdown of the report’s findings, including search share insights across five categories for 46 brands and over 36,000 keywords, download the full Q3 2025 Agricultural Market Brand Consideration Report below:
