Reading Time: < 1 minute Scott Garvey pays another visit to the Versatile plant in Winnipeg to get an update on Big Roy’s restoration and gets some history on the big eight-wheel-drive tractor from Grant Adolph, Versatile’s COO. Video editing by Greg Berg.
VIDEO: eQuipTV: “Big Roy” 3: A tractor ahead of its time
Make room. There’s another farm equipment manufacturer in town
Is there really enough market for two more full-line farm equipment manufacturers?
Reading Time: 6 minutes In a second floor conference room at the Hanover fairgrounds in Germany during the Agritechnica machinery expo in November, a panel of experts got together to present their individual views on the present and future of the agricultural machinery market around the globe. Despite the fact world demand for new machinery has slowed significantly, optimism […] Read more
The first true robot tractor
Machinery Guide: The Greenbot autonomous tractor hits the market
Reading Time: 3 minutes Complete automation may well be the dominant focus of ag machinery design in the coming decades. We’ve already seen various levels of robotics introduced into conventional equipment, and a few limited-use autonomous machines have appeared. But no company has yet been willing to offer fully autonomous, market-ready tractors for general field duties — until now. […] Read more
VIDEO: eQuipTV: “Big Roy” 2, the restoration continues
Soon-to-be-completed restoration will see the big Versatile returned to the Manitoba Agricultural Museum in Austin
Reading Time: < 1 minute Grainews returns to Versatile’s R&D shop in Winnipeg to check in on Big Roy’s progress, and we talk to Adam Reid, Versatile’s marketing manager, about what else the company has in store for its 50th anniversary celebrations. Video editing by Greg Berg.
The Canadian Truck King Challenge
What it’s like to judge the 2016 pickup trucks
Reading Time: 3 minutes It doesn’t matter which brand we’re talking about, when you watch the many television commercials advertising their newest pickup trucks, you’re bound to hear the “best-in-class” phrase for some feature or another. It’s the kind of one-upmanship marketers love to cash in on. In real life, though, do any of those claims carry the weight […] Read more
How “free” is the free trade in agricultural equipment?
Canadian farm equipment manufacturing got a boost from free trade in 1944. What can we expect from today’s trade agreements?
Reading Time: 6 minutes In the last few years, we’ve heard a lot of passionate political speeches about so-called free trade agreements. It’s a topic that is really more than a century old in this country, going back as far as 1911 when the failed push for “Reciprocity” between Canada and the U.S. made headlines as a hot-button issue. […] Read more
The quality revolution in agricultural machinery
Business has changed. You can’t build a tractor the way they used to. Farmers won’t let you
Reading Time: 6 minutes At first, we all thought he must have been exaggerating. It was 2013 and we were at the Hesston, Kansas combine assembly plant where Hans-Bernd Veltmaat, AGCO’s senior vice-president was discussing the plant’s US$40-million expansion, which included a new state-of-the-art paint system. “This paint centre is a major building block for AGCO,” Veltmaat said. “With […] Read more
More compact mid-range tractors
Machinery Guide: CNH introduces two high-horsepower, small-chassis models
Reading Time: 4 minutes In my last article, Machinery Guide took a look at AGCO’s newest Fendt tractor, the compact 500 Series. It fits into a relatively new tractor market segment that offers higher horsepower in a compact package. This year CNH also threw its hat into that big-power, small-chassis ring with the introduction of two new models in both […] Read more
VIDEO: Eight-wheel drive tractor “Big Roy” begins restoration at Versatile
Reading Time: < 1 minute As part of its 50th anniversary celebrations, Winnipeg-based Versatile brought its model 1080 prototype eight-wheel drive tractor, dubbed Big Roy, home for a makeover. Although it’s now officially owned by an agricultural museum, the tractor will play an as-yet unspecified role in Versatile’s celebrations through public appearances arranged by the brand this coming season. Age […] Read more
Behind closed doors at New Holland’s research facility
New Holland takes us into its secret world located in Pennsylvania
Reading Time: 5 minutes On August 20, 1940, the New Holland Machine Company signed a deal with Pennsylvania inventor Ed Nault to take ownership of his unique hay baler design. Nault had patented a new knotter that was capable of reliably producing a tight bale, something other fledgling designs at the time really couldn’t do very well, according to […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
