Constable Andrew Boyd of the Hawke's Bay tactical crime unit confirmed a witness saw a male driving a red ute taking photos of the tractor the morning before it was reported stolen.
Boyd said police had found the ute and had talked to one person of interest, who had since been incarcerated for a separate offence and denied having possession of the ute at the time the tractor was taken.
He said police had no leads as to the tractor's location.
"It's either been repaired and taken out of the district or it's not too far away. It could be hidden out on someone's orchard or some farm land somewhere."
A witness, who said he saw a faded, red Navara ute at the site, said it wasn't every day you see a tractor driving in town.
"If you hear a tractor go past in the middle of the night, you think 'this is a bit funny'."
Raikes said he wasn't sure his tractor would be found because the police were so under-resourced.
"They're doing what they can now but they actually took quite a while to get on to it because they've just got so much stuff on," he said.
"I'm still hopeful it's on a property round here but it could be shipped up to wherever couldn't it.
"At the moment I'm staring down the barrel of a $40,000 loss."
In January, two tractors and a sprayer valued at $110,000 was stolen from an orchard on Elwood Rd, Hastings.
