Why is the tractor important

Just a few years after the tractor overtook the horse, our Alliance brand began making tires to help farmers get the most from their machines, and is still doing so today with tires like the unique block-tread Alliance Multiuse The Alliance delivers exceptional versatility and is capable of handling a multitude farm chores, while delivering superior traction, wear, smooth ride, and, of course, low total cost ownership TCO. The job of the tractor is never done. As manufacturers continue to develop bigger, more powerful tractors and farmers find new ways to put them to work, we will be right there creating the best possible tires for those applications and machines as they feed fuel and clothe the world!

How Tractors Changed Farming In the s Americans owned more than 25 million horses and mules, most of which were used as work animals on farms. Subscribe Here Sign up to receive email updates and to hear what's going on with us! Follow Us. A leader in sales and distribution of construction, farm, industrial, forestry, mining and OTR tires under the Yokohama, Alliance, Galaxy and Primex brands.

Recent Posts. One of the more important uses of stationary gas engines early in the twentieth century was for the shelling of corn. The picker combined the operations of cutting and shelling, and also distributed the stalks back onto the field, eliminating an additional step.

Mechanical cotton pickers fundamentally altered not only the harvesting of cotton, but the very nature of cotton growing in the United States. The mechanical picker, even after extensive development, produced higher crop losses than hand picking in the hot, humid areas where most cotton was grown — Mississippi, Alabama, and east Texas.

In the dry areas of west Texas, however, the picker was very efficient, both in terms of labor effort and crop yields. The mechanical cotton picker thus precipitated a relocation of cotton production westward, resulting in large-scale migration out of the deep South in the years after World War II.

For this reason, pickers and combines are often considered as separate machines, and their development and diffusion are not included in discussions of the impact of the tractor. It should be pointed out, however, that none of these devices could have been powered efficiently by horses or steam; the gasoline-powered tractor was necessary for their development. As such, I will include combines and mechanical pickers in assessing the impact of the tractor on inputs to agriculture.

The recent history of tractor development is less dramatic than the first 50 years. The peak year of tractor production was , during which , units were made. From that time, the approaching saturation of the market produced a steady fall in production and sales.

As one might expect, manufacturers responded by developing ever-larger tractors to supply farms that were growing in size. Interestingly enough, this pursuit of size left the small end of the market open to foreign competition, and, as in the case of the U. Creature comforts have been improved markedly since the s as well. Enclosed cabs soon had heating and air conditioning, and are now likely to be supplied with a television and stereo-CD. As a result, modern tractors are quite comfortable in comparison with the machines of 40 years ago, let alone versus the monsters of the early tractor era.

From a slow start in the s and s, tractor production grew through the late Depression years, as farmers increasingly parted with their horses and mules. Figure 2 shows the annual output of farm tractors from to , including the peak years of the early s. It is likely that this peak would have been reached much sooner, had it not been for the disruption of the Second World War. Not only were raw materials such as steel, copper, and rubber severely limited due to wartime production needs, but the government actually limited the total number of machines that could be built each year, and allocated only the raw materials needed for that production.

Many of the tractor factories were converted over to production of tanks, airplanes, vehicles, and other military goods. Despite the presence of corporate giants such as International Harvester and Ford in the early development of the farm tractor, there were hundreds of firms that began producing or selling machines in the first two decades of the twentieth century. As is the case with many emerging industries, inventors, entrepreneurs, and promoters were attracted to this important and rapidly-growing field.

The agricultural depressions of and drove many of these firms into mergers or out of business, and by the early s seven companies dominated the industry. These firms, along with Ford, would make almost all of the wheel-tractors sold in the United States from through The dominance of the seven firms is shown in Table 1, which presents market share data by decade for the key years of tractor industry growth.

As discussed above, Ford dominated the market in the s, then left the business to create production capacity for the Model A; upon returning to tractors in the s, Ford once again became an important presence. International Harvester was the largest consistent seller, as well as being the technological leader, while Deere would grow into the most significant challenger. By , Deere overtook International Harvester in a declining market, and remains the largest presence in agricultural equipment today.

The farm tractor had made a major impact on the social and economic fabric of the United States. By increasing the productivity of agricultural labor, mechanization freed up millions of farm operators, unpaid family workers, and farm hands. After the Second World War, many of these people relocated to the growing cities across the country and provided technically-skilled, hard-working labor to the manufacturing and service industries.

Millions of others remained in rural areas, working off-farm either part-time or full-time in a variety of professions. The landscape of the country has changed as a result.

Farms have grown larger as one proprietor can manage to cultivate the land that several families would have worked in Small market towns, especially in the Plains states, have almost ceased to exist as the customer base for local businesses has dwindled.

Land formerly devoted to raising and feeding horses has been converted to alternate uses or reverted to grassland or forest. Several generations of agricultural families have experienced the sadness of giving up the farm and the rural way of life. On balance, however, the tractor has had a markedly positive economic impact. Horses and mules, while providing farm power, ate up more than twenty percent of the food they helped farmers grow! By replacing them with machines that consumed much less expensive quantities of fuel, oil, and hydraulic fluid, farmers were able to reduce their costs and pass these social savings along to food buyers.

More importantly, the millions of farm workers freed up by the technology were able to contribute their labor elsewhere in the economy, creating large economic benefits. According to a recent estimate by the author, the U. What is a tractor? Use of a tractor A tractor is a farm vehicle. There are various uses of a tractor depending on the agricultural implement: It can be used for pushing or pulling agricultural machinery or trailers. This makes the job easier for farmers because manually pushing and pulling machinery can take a lot of time and effort to do and finish.

The tractor can also be used for ploughing for initial cultivation of soil in preparation for sowing seed or planting. A disc harrow can also be implemented on a tractor for tilling purposes to till the soil where crops are to be planted. It is also used to cut up unwanted weeds or crop remainders. Ford started producing blue Ford tractors and used the New Holland name for other agriculture machines which were painted yellow.

However, this did not last forever. In Ford walked away from the agriculture machinery market and sold New Holland to Fiat Group in The staple blue followed New Holland as it left Ford and their tractors continue to be painted the distinct colour to this very day. Today New Holland continues to be an advocate for environmentally friendly equipment innovation.

With the longevity of farming and farmers in mind the company has made it their mission to lead the fight against climate change and develop clean energy agriculture equipment. Just like with any kind of heavy equipment or agriculture machinery, operating a tractor must be done safely to avoid safety accidents. Tractors are the primary source of work-related injuries on farms.

In fact, nearly one-third of all farm work fatalities are tractor-related. There are four distinct hazards associated with tractors: overturns, runovers, power take-off entanglements, and older tractors. When a tractor falls sideways or backwards, both the operator and anyone around the tractor is at risk of injury. Most of these incidents are preventable if safe tractor operating procedures are followed. A tractor has one seat and should only be used to transport one person — the operator.

Runovers can happen if an extra person falls off the tractor because there is no safe or secure place for them to be sitting. Another possibility for a runover accident is if the operator is knocked off the tractor by a low hanging branch or another piece of debris.

On particularly rough roads, an operator could be bounced out of their seat as well. Lastly, a runover accident could happen by the driver striking someone on the ground while operating.

This incident of runovers is particularly dangerous if the tractor is being operated on a family farm with young children. Never start a tractor while it is in reverse and always check all blindspots to avoid this from happening.

It is a device that allows for the mechanical transfer of power from the tractor to an attachment. However, the RPM level means that it is turning anywhere from 9 to 17 times per second. Being caught in this shaft could cause serious injury. There is little to no reaction time if this was to happen so prevention is key. All tractors should be fitted with a PTO master shield.

If the tractor does not have a shield, be sure to report it. In order to stay safe when working around a PTO remember to:. With proper care and maintenance, a tractor can have a long and active life. In order to have a long-lasting and safe tractor, it is important to be aware of what safety features it does not have.

Tractors were invented with the purpose of replacing the farm workhorse or ox or other animals used to pull equipment in the mids. The very first tractors were steam-powered. They were big and clunky machines that looked like the steam engines often seen on trains.

They had big back wheels and would be used to pull and power threshing machines to clear grain as well as circular saws to aid construction. In a man named John Froelich was tired of the cumbersome and dangerous steam engine. He partnered up with his blacksmith to mount a single-cylinder gas engine on his old steam tractor. His idea worked and the tractor took off at a recorded speed of three miles per hour. He used his new gas tractor for his next threshing tour and was able to successfully thresh more than 72, bushels of grain.

Because it was run by gas and not fire, coal and water, there was the added bonus of zero chances for a fire. Froelich joined up with eight other investors to found the Waterloo Gasoline Traction Engine Company in They developed four new kinds of tractors and sold two.

Froelich was more invested in developing farming equipment over engines and left the company a year later. The true value of the tractor came from the ability to affect the lives of farmers everywhere. While using horses or other animals to pull and move equipment, the added pressure of feeding and housing that animals limited the amount of work that a farmer could do.