Brexit Gives New Life to Old Tractors

Auctioneer Cheffins says 2017 sales are at three-year high
Weaker pound and low farm income are luring more buyers

A John Deere tractor, manufactured by Deere & Co., sits at the Cheffins Cambridge Machinery Sales monthly machinery and plant auction in Sutton, U.K., on Monday, Sept. 4, 2017. The debate over food and farming policy after Brexit has heated up recently, with Environment Secretary Michael Gove telling BBC Radio 4 that the U.K wouldn’t lower its animal welfare or environmental standards to achieve any new trade deals.Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg

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By Isis Almeida

November 30, 2017 at 12:01 AM UTC

Updated on

November 30, 2017 at 9:04 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Deep in the English countryside about 12 miles north of Cambridge, hundreds of used tractors are waiting to be snatched up by one of many overseas buyers getting a better bargain because of Brexit.

Lured by a weaker pound and good quality of machinery, dealers from the European Union and as far away as Lebanon and Sri Lanka flock to the monthly Cheffins auction held on an area the size of 40 soccer pitches. Sales -- the bulk of which are exported -- have jumped since the U.K. voted to leave the EU, reaching a three-year high in the first 10 months of 2017.