8,791 new 50hp+ agricultural tractors were registered in the UK in 2025 – 14% fewer than in 2024, and the lowest figure since AEA began monitoring registrations in the 1960s.
Almost all power bands saw a decline in registrations but the biggest falls were at the top end of the power range. The number of 240hp+ tractors registered last year was down by nearly a third, compared with the year before. According to the AEA, this reflects the challenging financial position of arable farmers – the main buyers of these larger tractors.
Below that level, the decline was a more modest 11%. Nevertheless, the 11% share of the total accounted for by machines over 240hp was still higher than in any year before 2024.
The decline in the number of the largest tractors meant that the average power registered last year was lower than the year before for the first time since 2021.
It fell from just under 180hp in 2024 to 173hp last year, which is also slightly below the level recorded in 2023 but is higher than in all previous years. As a result, the total power of tractors registered in 2025 fell to a 24-year low of 1.52 million hp.
The number of tractors registered in 2025 was lower than the year before across most of the country, although the South West of England was an exception. Here, slightly more machines were logged that in 2024 but numbers were down everywhere else.
The AEA suggests that this could reflect the improved fortunes of the dairy sector, which makes up a sizeable proportion of agriculture in that region. The South East 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.
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