In all, more than $2.37 billion worth of farm equipment was shipped during the second month of the year, an increase of 3.7 percent when compared to January. However, on a year-to-date basis, values for agricultural equipment shipped are down 7.8 percent between 2009 and 2010.
While farm equipment was up, construction machinery was down in February. The total value of construction machinery declined 2.9 percent between the first two months of the year, dropping from $2.29 billion to $2.37 billion.
The Commerce Department said that new orders for manufactured goods overall were up 0.6 percent, increasing $2.1 billion to $383.5 billion. However, shipments continued to decline, falling 0.1 percent during February.
As orders for manufactured goods rise, the Obama administration has launched an effort to try and improve U.S. exports. The goal of the initiative is to double exports over the next five years.
Furthermore, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will visit Japan in April in order to improve agricultural trade relations between the two countries.
