Reading Time: 3 minutes Chris Martin saw how hay bale dryers were working in Quebec and thought that the concept would work on his farm in Ontario. And he figured he and his brother could make one that worked even better. Three years later, they have their dryer working – but not perfected – and have sold one other […] Read more
Farmer-made hay dryer boosts quality
Chinook bale dryer uses spikes to dry bales from the inside out
Turning friends into targets
Be glad you aren’t the CEO of a major machinery manufacturer in the new era of Donald Trump
Reading Time: 5 minutes Ever since Donald Trump sold 62 million American voters on the idea that, by applying border taxes, he could recreate a manufacturing landscape last seen in the 1950s, there have been sweat stains on the collars of manufacturing executives everywhere. Now, more of those executives within the U.S. are speaking out about what they think […] Read more
Trump administration triggers launch of NAFTA renegotiations
Reading Time: 2 minutes Washington | Reuters — The Trump administration on Thursday formally launched its effort to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico to try to win better terms for U.S. workers and manufacturers. With a letter to U.S. lawmakers, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said he triggered a 90-day consultation period with […] Read more
Trumping it out
Will a protectionist administration in the White House force our ag equipment industry to move south?
Reading Time: 6 minutes It was a stunning move. Ford’s CEO and president Mark Fields appeared on CNN in January to announce that his company was scrubbing its long-planned construction of a US$1.6 billion assembly plant in Mexico. Instead, Ford will invest U.S.$700 million in a Michigan facility and boost its workforce in that state by 700. It looked […] Read more
AGCO bets big on China
While the war of words heats up between Beijing and Washington, AGCO is becoming a major player in the Chinese economy
Reading Time: 6 minutes One of the world’s largest farm equipment manufacturers is predicting a bright future in China, and it is putting its money behind that belief. AGCO, parent company of well-known brands Massey Ferguson, Fendt, Valtra, GSI, and Challenger, has opened a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Changzhou to serve both its international needs and what it […] Read more
Bad news for ag’s Big 3 farm equipment manufacturers
With three-quarters of machinery makers already planning lay-offs, Brexit’s damage to the EU is creating more worry
Reading Time: 4 minutes On the eve of Britain’s June 23 vote, I was in Hungary eating supper with a group of journalists including a freelancer who is also part of a family farm operation in England. She was the one to correctly predict the “leave” victory. That farmers would vote to leave the EU was astonishing to me. […] Read more
The four Ms get down to work
AGCO’s Robert Ciecko shares his strategy for winning with lean manufacturing in agriculture
Reading Time: 5 minutes While touring the assembly lines at AGCO’s huge combine and hay-tool plant at Hesston, Kansas, I admit I stopped counting how many workers were greeted by name by Robert Ciecko as he guided our group. But I didn’t stop being impressed by how, at virtually every station, waves came from the workers, or at least […] Read more
Secret deals for agricultural equipment regulations
Free trade with the EU is supposed to offer a chance to standardize ag equipment regulations, but the talks are behind closed doors, and the industry is getting worried
Reading Time: 5 minutes During Agritechnica 2013 in Hannover, Germany, I was invited to an informal dinner with some representatives of DLG, the German Agricultural Society, which organizes the show. I ended up sitting next to DLG’s agricultural economist, so it was a perfect opportunity to discuss a variety of topics affecting farmers on both sides of the Atlantic. […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
