Reading Time: 5 minutes Here in North America, many producers have a favourite farm machinery brand and wouldn’t think of buying anything else. Often there may be some practical reasons behind that choice. Parts and service availability, proximity to a dealer or maintaining a relationship with a dealer can pay dividends. But those factors can sometimes result in producers […] Read more
Should we pay more attention to European tractor competitions?
Comparing apples to apples with North American machinery brands
CNH workers at two U.S. plants reject proposed contract
Plants' workers on strike since May
Reading Time: 2 minutes Racine | Reuters — Members of two local unions that have been on strike since May at CNH Industrial factories in Wisconsin and Iowa on Saturday voted down a tentative labour contract, the United Auto Workers union said. The union did not disclose how many workers at the two plants rejected the four-year deal, which […] Read more
Good, clean fun. The man behind #andyclean
What happens when an inside joke turns into a real business?
Reading Time: 11 minutes Business in 2023 is different. Sure, there are still the traditional paths. Some farmers still work hard to identify a market and then chart a methodical approach to launch a business into it. Others take up the mantle from their parents, as young farmers always have, finding ways as they do to add their own […] Read more
Farm equipment demand to remain high, FCC says
Low inventories, high commodity prices and a good crop place pressure on demand
Reading Time: 3 minutes Demand for farm equipment should remain high through 2023 despite higher interest rates and projected price increases, according to Farm Credit Canada. The federal ag lender has released an outlook on the farm equipment market that analyzed data and trends that affect the market. While the outlook attributes much of the current demand to relatively […] Read more
Virtual testing for real world conditions
Manufacturers turn to computer technology to validate new machine designs
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
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