Thanks, Brent, and good morning all.
Let's start with quarter's results on slide six. Net sales were up 3% in the quarter-over-quarter comparison, primarily driven by strong price realization and slightly higher volumes. Operating profit was $527 million, resulting in a 9.2% operating margin for the division. The year-over-year decline was largely due to higher production cost, SA&G, and the unfavorable effects of foreign currency exchange, partially offset by positive price realization. Importantly, our North American large ag business finished the quarter with strong retail sales, putting us in an excellent inventory position for the start of 2020. In the U.S., the large tractor and combine inventory to sales ratio is the lowest it's been since 2014, which puts us in a good position to produce in line with retail demand for North America large ag in 2020.
Now turning to slide seven, let's take a closer look at some of the fundamentals affecting the agricultural economy. It's been a year of uncertainty for corn and soybean growers in the U.S. In addition to continued trade uncertainty and near-term demand concerns, stemming from African swine fever, and unusually wet spring, delayed planting this season, which ultimately resulted in fewer corn and soybean acres for the year. Compounding matters further, difficult weather conditions this fall has significantly delayed harvest, which is now the slowest — the fourth slowest on record for corn. The combination of these factors have pressured grain supplies for the year. More specifically, despite these lower levels of supply, overall grain consumption increased for the period, contributing to a decline in the stocks to use ratio for both corn and soybeans, and in turn higher year-over-year prices for both commodities in 2019. The wheat global stocks to use ratio is expected to rise again in 2019 as production increases in Russia and Ukraine more than offset dryness in Argentina and Australia. Ending stocks for 2019 reflect record high levels for global wheat inventories.
Now slide eight outlines U.S. farm cash receipts. 2019 farm cash receipts are estimated to increase about 2% year-over-year to $395 billion, while net cash income is estimated to be up around 7% to $113 billion. The increase in crop cash receipts and income is largely attributed to the market facilitation payments from the USDA, which are expected to contribute approximately $17 billion to the U.S. farm economy this year. As they complete their harvest, farmers will assess their individual situations to determine how best to allocate the year-over-year increase in receipts and income.
Before addressing our industry outlook on slide nine, I'd like to first provide a high level overview on the state of the North American ag industry. Despite uncertainty from trade, weather and ASF, we are still in a replacement market that if anything is becoming more amplified. Let me explain. First of all, while this uncertainty has slowed replacement rates in both 2018 and 2019, and long-term trade resolution is still clearly desired, we do see some evidence that U.S. farmer sentiment is beginning to improve, as farmers acclimate over time to planning in a more uncertain trade environment.
Secondly, the fleet age in the U.S. has reached its highest point in over a decade. And our 2020 outlook anticipates even further aging of this fleet. This supports our view that many U.S. customers will reach a point where they simply need to replace their equipment. And with that impact, a gradual recovery of the equipment investment cycle will resume, as customers make decisions to upgrade their operations. Lastly, in addition to the advanced age of the fleet, the impact of precision technology is further driving these replacement decisions. Throughout this prolonged period of uncertainty, farmers have continued to invest in technologies that deliver high ROIs and operational efficiencies. And there is no doubt that our own product introductions in this area of precision ag technology have had a distinct impact on the financial and operational performance of our customers, and never was that more evident than this year as our customers used these technologies to better manage the adverse weather conditions, I mentioned earlier.
This impact of technology has also been very apparent in the results of our early order programs, where we have seen increased take rates for precision features compared to last year. And speaking of our early order programs, the final phase of the planter and sprayer EOP concluded in October with mixed results on a unit basis. Early orders for planters finished up single digits with take rates for ExactEmerge technology up again significantly for fiscal year 2020. Sprayer orders were down low double digits with the U.S. results down single digits, and Canada orders were down significantly more. It's also important to note that the first phase of these programs was significantly impacted by the late planting this season and that orders for the subsequent two phases were up quite significantly on a year-over-year basis. Our combine early order program completed the first of three phases in October with results down double digits. Similar to our crop EOP, the results of the first phase were negatively impacted by lower activity in Canada as well as the delayed harvest that I mentioned earlier. Given the late harvest, this year's program may be more backend weighted towards phases two and three.
Also, due to strong take rates in 2018 and 2019, Combine Advisor was moved into the base model for 2020, indicating a significant adoption of this game-changing feature. Our tractor order book currently extends through the end of March, which is well ahead of last year. The strong order book is largely attributable to a mid-year model change as we transition to the all new 8R tractor featured at AGRITECHNICA this year. More specifically, our current order bank reflects the sellout of the current model as we begin taking orders for the new 8R starting in December. We'll talk more about this new 8R as the year progresses. But simply put, it is the most technologically advanced tractor we've ever made and loaded with our latest precision technologies. This new model will feature upgrades in guidance, connectivity and user experience while enabling further electrification of associated implements. And initial reaction to these features has been very positive for both customers and dealers. We intend to begin production during the third quarter.
With that context, let's turn to our 2020 ag & turf industry outlook on slide nine. Ag industry sales in the U.S. and Canada are forecast to be down about 5% for 2020 with the year-over-year decline reflective of a cautious environment.
Concerning the U.S. market, it's worth noting that we've made some adjustments to our leasing operations to address recent losses in the U.S. portfolio. Although the overall used equipment market continues to be quite stable, our lease return rates remain at elevated levels. At the same time, we've taken actions to reduce our matured lease inventory, which put downward pressure on our recovery rates in the wholesale market and contributed to the disclosed impairment. But, to address this situation going forward, we have taken the following actions.
First, we've adjusted lease residual values to better reflect the current environment. Next, we've announced changes to our leasing program that will include a risk sharing mechanism with our dealers to ensure alignment. And lastly, we will realign our performance and incentive structures in order to increase dealer collaboration in our collective remarketing efforts. In summary, we have taken significant actions to enhance our positions with our current leasing portfolio and our overall leasing strategy going forward. In terms of our current portfolio, we have reduced mature lease inventory during 2019 and are now turning net inventory much faster. Regarding our leasing strategy going forward, the changes I highlighted, should provide for greater efficiency and managing the overall portfolio, while remaining competitive in the marketplace.
And these changes will enable us to better leverage the strength of our dealer organization by allowing them to control the inventory in their own area of responsibility. This in turn will also support the evolution of promoting production systems versus individual products, because they can better manage their customers' trade cycles. We've received a variety of feedback from our dealers, but many of our strongest dealers view these changes as quite positive. They also see them as obvious evolution to our leasing strategy that reflects the growing importance of leasing to the overall industry.
Now, moving on to the EU28. The industry outlook is forecast to be flat in 2020, as most regions impacted from last year's drought, are expected to recover with favorable production for the year. Furthermore, the outlook for the dairy sector remains stable. In South America, industry sales of tractors and combines are projected to be flat for the year. Sentiment in Brazil remains very stable with high levels of grain production combined with healthy producer margins and restored liquidity in the financing market, driving a positive outlook. However, other Latin American markets like Mexico and to a greater extent Argentina, face near-term challenges due to the potential for adverse policy impacting the ag sector. Shifting to Asia, industry sales are expected to be flat with growth in India offset by slowness in China. And lastly, industry retail sales of turf and utility equipment in the U.S. and Canada are projected to be flat in 2020 based on stable general economic factors.
Now moving on to the ag and turf forecast on slide 10. Fiscal year 2020 sales of worldwide ag and turf equipment are now forecasted to be down between 5% and 10%, which includes expectations of two points of positive price realization and currency headwind of about one point. Also note that our sales forecast does contemplate producing below retail demand for some small ag products in 2020. Our full year operating margin forecast is ranging between 10.5% and 11.5%.
I will now turn the call back over to Brent Norwood. Brent?