With the new CVXDrive CVT transmission, Steigers can move as slowly as three feet per minute, and the brand endorses using tractors equipped with it for installing drainage tile.

Case IH shifts gears

New transmissions debut in the Steiger and Maxxum tractor lines

Reading Time: 4 minutes Cole Carling, marketing manager for Case IH Maxxum and Puma tractors, was telling our group of farm machinery writers what’s going to be different in the 2018 Maxxum tractors we’ll see rolling off assembly lines starting this fall. Carling was talking to us in Boone, Iowa in August, and said, “We’re introducing new styling… It’s […] Read more



SeedMaster’s Norbert Beaujot sees DOT technology as one solution to a shortage of skilled operators.

Not just a driverless tractor, but no tractor at all

A global launch at Ag in Motion could change the way you farm

Reading Time: 4 minutes While farmers have been waiting impatiently for equipment designers to commercialize the driverless tractor, Prairie inventor and entrepreneur Norbert Beaujot has found a way to ditch the tractor altogether. And he’s rolling it out for the first time in July 18 to 20 at Ag in Motion (AIM), Western Canada’s outdoor farm show now in […] Read more

A group of companies headed by Bosch has created a new digitally integrated cab designed for use in a variety of off-road machines. It builds on technologies used in the automotive sector.

A Genius in the tractor cab

This systems supplier is integrating cutting-edge automotive safety systems into off-road equipment cabs

Reading Time: 4 minutes A few years ago I had the pleasure of interviewing the industrial designer who styled the cab and body of the first Challenger 65 belted ag tractors, which were then part of the Caterpillar brand before coming under AGCO ownership. Before coming to Cat, the designer had spent several years working for General Motors and […] Read more


Photo: Scott Garvey

Seven new product reveals from John Deere

In early June John Deere invited members of the farm media to its Harvester Works facility in Moline, Illinois, to see the full line of equipment it was introducing in 2017. And all of it was parked on the lawn in front of that combine manufacturing facility for reporters to photograph and learn about from[...]
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A new range of high-spec tractors offering 90 to 125 engine horsepower will debut in green paint this year.

New from John Deere

The green brand offers a glimpse of what’s to come in 2017

Reading Time: 3 minutes Next month, John Deere will host a formal event to pull the wraps off several new additions to its equipment line. What will be under the covers? In February, at the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, Kentucky, the brand teased showgoers by unveiling a couple of new products that are bound to be included[...]
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The new Pro-Drive Standard tractors add lower-spec “economy” models to the existing X7 line.

More new tractors from McCormick

The Italian brand adds both low- and high-spec utility models

Reading Time: 4 minutes For several years now, ag machinery has been all about technology. But the more advanced our tractor design becomes, the more push-back we see from a segment of the market demanding machines without all the newest features and technology. After all, tractors have been doing farm chores since the early part of the last century[...]
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The Harper Adams working group: (l to r) research assistant Martin Abell, robotics researcher Jonathan Gill and Kit Franklin, ag engineering and project manager.

Thinking small with a big idea

Britain’s “Hands Free Hectare” project is developing the model that you may need to build tomorrow’s farm on

Reading Time: 6 minutes As a kid, I can vividly remember one particular occasion sitting on the steps in my grandparents’ old farmhouse in the late 1960s looking at an issue of Country Guide. One image from its pages still sticks in my memory. It was an advertisement showing Massey-Ferguson’s newest line of tractors. Why did that mental image[...]
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PHOTOS: JCB redesigns the 8000 Series Fastrac tractor

PHOTOS: JCB redesigns the 8000 Series Fastrac tractor

Guide Machinery: The evolution of the Fastrac

Reading Time: 3 minutes All eyes were on a stage in JCB’s Rocester, England world headquarters building in October as a few dozen ag journalists from several different countries gathered for the reveal of the company’s all new 8000 Series Fastrac tractor. As is usually the case with events like this, no matter what the brand, the unveiling was[...]
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How to evaluate a diesel engine

How to evaluate a diesel engine

Are you thinking of buying a used tractor or other farm machine for next season? It’s only a few months before the spring auction sale season kicks off again, and there is no shortage of used machines on dealer lots to pick from right now. Buying used equipment can be a great way to add[...]
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