Reading Time: 6 minutes A few years ago I was interviewing a retired engineer who had worked at Massey Ferguson. We were talking about his involvement in testing prototypes, and he recalled how a group of employees would have to take shifts running newly designed machines over the “bump track” behind the engineering centre. That was a track with […] Read more
Virtual testing for real world conditions
Manufacturers turn to computer technology to validate new machine designs
Foxconn to build autonomous electric tractors in Ohio
Tech firm to make units for U.S.-based Monarch
Reading Time: < 1 minute Reuters — Taiwan’s Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics maker, on Tuesday said it will build driverless electric tractors for California-based Monarch Tractor at its Lordstown, Ohio facility starting in early 2023. The announcement comes as heavy machinery manufacturers, including Deere and Agco, set their sights on the electric vehicle market as the U.S. agriculture […] Read more
Deere tapping into Apple-like tech model to drive revenue
'Hopefully the costs will be paid back in the long run'
Reading Time: 3 minutes Bondurant, Iowa | Reuters — Deere and Co. has sold its tractors and other equipment to farmers for decades, but the world’s largest agriculture machinery manufacturer is tearing a page from the technology world’s playbook — combining cutting-edge hardware with software and subscription models to drive revenue growth. In a world with a dwindling number […] Read more
Southern Ontario Kubota dealer chain sold
Robert's, Stewart's buy Earth Power dealerships
Reading Time: 2 minutes A chain of Kubota dealerships in southern Ontario is selling its three links to two separate new owners. Earth Power Tractors and Equipment, owned in partnership by Jim Kelly and Jeff Cook since 2005, said Thursday it has a deal in place to sell its sites at Owen Sound and nearby Meaford to Robert’s Farm […] Read more
John Deere goes full throttle
Being the biggest in the world isn’t big enough for John Deere
Reading Time: 6 minutes The strategy is clear. The company isn’t hiding it. Even in its most recent sustainability report, John Deere says it is going all out to make the world’s farmers happy to invest even more money in green precision ag equipment and new technologies. But just how much more? Currently, the brand claims the world’s farmers […] Read more
Agco buys Manitoba ag autonomy firm JCA
Massey, Fendt maker boosts precision ag capacity
Reading Time: < 1 minute International farm equipment maker Agco is aiming to boost its bench strength in the precision agriculture and autonomous ag sectors by buying a Prairie software and hardware company known for both. Agco, the maker of machinery brands including Massey Ferguson, Fendt, Challenger and Valtra, said Monday it has bought Winnipeg-based JCA Technologies for an undisclosed […] Read more
The 4th industrial revolution begins
Mark January 4th down as one of the biggest days in your lifetime
Reading Time: 4 minutes Why January 4th? Well, John Deere, the world’s biggest ag equipment brand, announced that day it is building a fully autonomous 8R tractor for the North American marketplace this year. This is a really big deal. “Autonomy is no longer just a concept or a demo,” said Jahmy Hindman, chief technology officer at Deere. “It’s […] Read more
Saskatchewan clarifying certain on-farm PST exemptions
More items to be specified as exempt in tax regulations
Reading Time: 2 minutes Saskatchewan farmers’ and ranchers’ concerns about some inconsistencies in how and when provincial sales tax is applied to purchases of on-farm equipment will be dealt with in a revised list effective late next week. The province said Wednesday in a budget release that a “number of clarifications” will be made to its Provincial Sales Tax […] Read more
Farming behind the lines in Ukraine
A Ukrainian agriculture journalist chronicles the challenges of sowing a crop during wartime
Reading Time: 5 minutes Ukrainians will farm their land, even in the face of war. In the Kherson area of southern Ukraine, where war rages and the city of Kherson is seen by the Russian invaders as strategic, a column set out on Monday. This was a column of tractors, under the flag of Ukraine. In it were farmers […] Read more
Used farm equipment sees big demand
There’s something very new — and unsettling — about this year’s used equipment market
Reading Time: 7 minutes This year, any farmer expecting a new tractor in time for spring seeding knows they shouldn’t hold their breath. It may or may not arrive on time. Problems including staff shortages, transportation bottlenecks, a shortage of components — all a result of COVID-19 in one way or another — have hit ag equipment manufacturers simultaneously […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
