This paper analyses if direct payments influence machinery investments on Swiss roughage farms by means of a regression analysis using accountancy data. We control for influence factors such as the farm size, the age of the farm manager, or the share of arable land. We find that general direct payments do not influence machinery assets per hectare agricultural area, which is in line with literature. However, direct payments that are related to adverse production conditions, are associated with higher machinery assets per hectare, which is in line with expectations: under adverse production conditions, direct payments are granted to compensate for higher cost of production – including machinery cost. We conclude that the policies in place do not incentivize farm managers to overinvest.