ARTICLES

Reinventing has been a way of life for most successful farm machinery manufacturers. In most cases the changes were not made to gain market share but to ensure the survival of the company. It took courage to make the radical changes that many looked on as foolish, and good marketing campaigns’ to introduce the changes to the farmers of the day. As we all know farmers have gone from horses to some of the most sophisticated equipment known to man in a mere 100 years. During that time many companies were born but few survive today. Let’s look at some of the reinventions that some of the companies took.

The most notable reinvention took place August 30, 1960 in Dallas, Texas. John Deere announced to the world their new 4 and 6 cylinder powered tractors. This was a gamble that no one could have predicted the outcome and it turned into a huge success for John Deere with more than 400,000 new tractors sold in the next decade (1). Because this reinvention happened during most of our lifetimes, it is the one most of us know about, but it is not the only one. In the days of the agricultural steam traction engines there were many companies that did not survive the transition to smaller, lighter machines and faded into the sunset as the age of steam ended.

One survivor was J.I. Case and Company. Even though the demand for steam traction engines was still strong , Case developed a tractor and started production in 1912. This reinvention moved Case into the internal combustion age. The engine on the earliest tractors was mounted cross ways. This design served Case well, but the changing industry necessitated the change to inline engines in 1929 (2).

Some companies tried to reinvent them selves and failed. The Massey-Harris 4 wheel drive is an example. The tractor was manufactured from 1930 to 1938 in Massey’s first attempt at manufacturing a tractor to fit the row crop market. As a 4-wheel drive the tractor was 50 years to early. Massey-Harris also reinvented it self in 1938 when the new tractors introduced that year had an engine on frame design rather than the oil pan of the engine being part of the frame. The unibody design came to Massey with the purchase of the Wallis company in 1928. Massey -Harris  continued until 1953 when it acquired the Ferguson Company. The original intent was to maintain two separate equipment lines. This proved unworkable and in 1957 the reinvented Massey Ferguson tractors were introduced. Diesel engines were supplied by F. Perkins Company Ltd., which had been recently acquired. These two changes led to Massey Ferguson becoming one of the worlds largest tractor manufacturers (3).

Henry Ford introduced the 2n in 1939 to the American market. This replaced the Model N and earlier model F which were similar. With the addition of the Ferguson System of 3-point hitch with draft control the smaller 9n was the reinvention that Ford needed to increase market share. Over  272,000 9n and 2n were built from 1939 to 1946.

The International Harvester company was formed in 1902.It is unique that no steam traction engine was ever marketed by International Harvester The earliest tractors from International Harvester were large and heavy .Attempts in the teens and twenties to develop a small all around tractor led to the 10-20 and 15-30,but these were the same design as everyone else of the day. The reinvention of the tractor came with the introduction of the Farmall Regular in 1924.This tractor with a tricycle stance allowed for row crop farming with a tractor for the first time. This was the first row-crop tractor tested in Nebraska (4). International Harvester and J.I. Case merged in 1984 to form Case International and reinvent itself once more.

Oliver Corporation reinvented it self when it unveiled the Oliver Hart-Parr model 70 Row Crop in 1935. This was the first Oliver tractor to use a 6 cylinder high compression. Also side panels were added to enclose the engine when most other manufacturers had discontinued them. The enclosed engine design would identify most Oliver models until the introduction of the Super Series in 1954.

The next reinvention involving Oliver was the purchase of Oliver by White Motors along with Minneapolis Moline and Cockshutt. The result was the White Tractor introduced in 1974. The late 1970’s would see White Motor Company in bankruptcy selling the White Farm Equipment Division to an investment firm in Texas The next new owner in the reinventing of White was Allied Products of Chicago, also the owner of New Idea.

The Allis Chalmers company was taken over by Deutz of Germany in May of 1985. The new company known as Deutz-Allis would be a subsidiary  of Klocker-Humboldt-Deutz. The hope was that this merger would lead to a greater presence in the U.S. for Deutz. A true reinvention that failed was the change from orange to green. Farmers in the U.S. wanted orange paint. The air cooled engines from Deutz were not popular with American farmers. When AGCO was formed in 1990 and purchased the assets of Duetz-Allis the Allis orange paint returned to North America along with more familiar liquid cooled engines.

The last reinvention to discuss is the announcement that the Allis Orange will go away yet again. Agco has announced the consolidation of brands in North America to just two tractor brands. The two will be Massey Ferguson and Challanger. For natives of central New York this may seem a bit odd. Neither of the two brands have ever held a strong presence in this area. Some may even question what the Challenger brand is. Challenger is a brand from Caterpillar given to large tractors and a combine they marketed. One more attempt to reinvent the farm equipment industry.

(1) The American Farm Tractor by Randy Leffingwell, copyright 1991
(2) ibid
(3) The Proud Heritage of Agco Tractors by Norm Swinford, copyright 1999
(4) Standard Catalog of Farm Tractors C.H. Wendel, copyright 2005