Following a year in which revenues turned out to be better than they had forecast, dealers are largely positive in their outlook for revenue growth from the rural lifestyle market, according to the 2026 Dealer Business Trends & Outlook survey. According to the survey, over 90% of dealers are forecasting their wholegoods revenues to be as good or better than in 2025. Tillers, chainsaws and power hand tools top the list of dealers’ best bets for improving unit sales in 2026. 

During the National Farm Machinery Show held in Louisville, Ky., Feb. 10-13, Rural Lifestyle Dealer editors caught up with Joel Hicks, a product line manager with Kioti, who offered some perspective on where he sees the market heading in 2026. 

“Most people are predicting that the market’s going to be flat or down, and we’re kind of setting ourselves up for a little bit of that,” Hicks says. “But overall, our perspective is that we can outpace what the market has been doing and take market share, especially in the compact, under 60 horsepower market.”

Tariffs are going to continue to put some pressure on rural lifestyle equipment, he says, noting that for this product class even the equipment that is assembled in North America has components that are being sourced globally. 

And while lower commodity prices are contributing to large ag equipment sales being down, Hicks points out that rural lifestyle equipment is tied more closely to the general economy. “It’s tied to how strong the housing market is, as people still continue to buy land, large tracks break up, people move out into more rural areas.”

2025 Results vs. Expectations 

Compared to their forecasts for 2025 revenues, dealers reported better results overall. In their outlook ahead of 2025, 75.8% of dealers were calling for revenues to be as good or better compared to 2024. As 2025 drew to a close, 81.3% reported their total revenues were as good or better than 2024. The percentage of dealers who said their revenues were roughly flat improved by 6.7 percentage points compared to the 2025 forecast. Just over 37% of dealers reported 2025 revenues were up 2-7% over 2024, up 6.3 points from the percent who forecast that level of growth a year ago. Fewer dealers reported their total revenue was up 8% or more than had forecast that level of growth a year ago (8.0% vs. 15.5%).

Source: Rural Lifestyle Dealer Business Trends & Outlook surveys

In terms of new wholegoods, last year 45.6% of dealers were forecasting their revenues to increase by at least 2% in 2025. Looking back on the year, fewer dealers — 40.0% — reported their 2025 new wholegoods revenues were up by at least 2% vs. 2024. At the same time, 22.8% of dealers were forecasting a sales decline for the year and as the year wrapped up that number dropped to 20.0% of dealers reporting revenues were down. The percentage of dealers reporting wholegoods revenue was flat vs. 2024 improved from the forecast by nearly 10 percentage points. 

For service, revenues didn’t live up to what dealers had forecast a year ago. Last year, 65.5% of dealers had forecast their service revenues to be up at least 2% vs. 2024, but looking back on the year 44.0% of dealers reported service revenue growth. However, a larger percentage of dealers (46.7%) reported service revenues were flat compared to 2024 than had forecast as such (29.1%). 

It was a similar story for parts revenues. Looking ahead to 2025, 70.9% of dealers said parts revenues would be up 2% or more over 2024. That dropped to 48.7% of dealers saying parts revenue had increased over 2024 as the year came to an end. 

Source: Rural Lifestyle Dealer Business Trends & Outlook surveys

2026 Outlook

Turning to their forecast for this year, 47.3% of dealers expect new wholegoods revenues for rural lifestyle equipment to be up vs. 2025, with 9.5% expecting sales to be up 8% or more. Another roughly 45% of dealers are calling for new wholegoods revenues to be flat this year, and just 8.2% of dealers say revenues will be down at least 2% vs. 2025. 

Moving to the aftermarket business, nearly all dealers are expecting parts and service revenues will be up in 2026 vs. last year. For parts, over half of dealers (57.5%) are forecasting revenue to be up at least 2% compared to 2025. Of that, 9.6% expect parts revenue to be up 8% or more. Nearly 40% of dealers say their parts revenue will be flattish vs. 2025. Just 2.7% of dealers say parts revenues will be down 2-7%, and none said they expect a drop of 8% or more. 

It’s a similar story for service revenues, with just over 50% of dealers calling for revenues to be up over 2025. Breaking that down, 45.2% are forecasting an increase of 2-7%, while 5.5% say service sales will be up 8% or more. Like parts, only 2.7% of dealers forecast service revenue to be down 2-7% and none expected a larger decline than that. 

2026 ‘Best Bets’ for Improving Sales

When asked what equipment they saw as their “best bet” for improving unit sales in 2026, in the #1 spot was tillers, with 100% of dealers saying they expected their unit sales to be as good or better than 2025. Next on the list was chain saws and power hand tools tied with 98.3% of dealers expecting sales to be as good or better. Tied at #3 is wood handling equipment, generators and electric hand-held equipment. Manure spreaders were at the bottom of the list, but still had 84.2% of dealers expecting sales to be as good or better than 2025.  

Source: Rural Lifestyle Dealer Business Trends & Outlook surveys

Looking at tractor sales, while neither <40 horsepower or 40-100 horsepower tractors broke the top 10 for best bets, dealers are optimistic about their sales potential. Nearly 55% of dealers are forecasting <40% tractor unit sales to be up 2% or more, while just 7.3% of dealers expect unit sales to be down 2% or more. 

Over a third of dealers (37.3%) expect 40-100 horsepower tractor unit sales to be up 2% or more over 2025, and over half of dealers say their sales will be flat. This leaves 9.0% of dealers who forecast utility tractor sales to be down 2% or more in the year ahead. 

Top Concerns 

Rural lifestyle dealers once again listed the increasing cost of new equipment as their top concern. Technician availability came in at #2, up from the fourth spot last year. Tied for second was low sales margin. Rounding out the top 5 are health care affordability, product reliability and cybersecurity/ransomware. Cybersecurity/ransomware were new to the concerns list this year. In 2025, the top concern was rising interest rates impact on customers’ purchases. Over the course of 2025, The Federal Reserve announced 3 interest rate cuts. Heading into 2026, interest rates impact on customers’ purchases dropped down to #9 on the list, followed by interest rates impact on dealer finances (vs. #6 in 2025). 

Source: Rural Lifestyle Dealer Business Trends & Outlook surveys

As it relates to customer financing, nearly two-thirds of dealers report that customers request financing on over half of purchases, with the highest percentage (33.3%) saying customers request financing on 76-100% of purchases. Just 2.8% of dealers say customers aren’t requesting financing. 

Source: Rural Lifestyle Dealer Business Trends & Outlook surveys

Source: Rural Lifestyle Dealer Business Trends & Outlook surveys

Source: Rural Lifestyle Dealer Business Trends & Outlook surveys

Source: Rural Lifestyle Dealer Business Trends & Outlook surveys

Source: Rural Lifestyle Dealer Business Trends & Outlook surveys

Source: Rural Lifestyle Dealer Business Trends & Outlook surveys

Source: Rural Lifestyle Dealer Business Trends & Outlook surveys

Source: Rural Lifestyle Dealer Business Trends & Outlook surveys

Source: Rural Lifestyle Dealer Business Trends & Outlook surveys