The invention of the farm tractor helped farmers in the US to become one of the world's top agricultural producers. Millions of people would be fed because the tractor enabled farmers to farm many acres of land.
At the beginning of the 20th Century the US farmers were growing primarily wheat, corn and cotton on the land and raising livestock that allowed them to produce dairy products. There were two primary options for farm power, steam boilers and draft livestock. The steam boilers were used on threshing machines while the draft animals were used in the fields to pull plows, harrows, mowers, reapers and other types of farm equipment. In 1910 around 24 million horses and mules were living on American farms. Also, these animals were needed for transporting people, crops and goods. Unfortunately, these animals ate huge quantities of food, eating around 20 percent of what the farmer grew.
In 1902 the very first gas powered traction engines called tractors were actually sold. These machines weighed around 25,000 pounds and had huge steel wheels or tracks. These were very expensive and most often farmers couldn't pay for them. Manufacturers did decrease the size of tractors to 2,000 to 6,000 pounds and the costs to less than $1,000. These machines were used to pull equipment such as plows, harrows, cultivators, etc.
Henry Ford introduced a small affordable tractor just before World War I called the Fordson. It was able to sell well especially during the war when there was a shortage of horses. However, as farm prices collapsed in 1920, Ford reduced the price of the tractor from $625 to $395. Two businesses competed for the farm market throughout most of the 1920's, Ford and International Harvester. Eventually, Ford had to use the tractor assembly lines for the Model-A and the company left the tractor business completely in 1928.
In 1925 International Harvester had introduced a general purpose tractor known as the Farmall. As this machine was compact, it worked well for plowing, cultivating and cutting. Similar tractors were now being made by a number of manufacturers. Three modifications were made to the tractors that enhanced their performance, the power lift which permitted an implement to be elevated during field turns, rubber tires which did less damage to the fields and diesel engines that allowed low cost diesel fuel. The peak manufacturing of tractors was in 1951 when 564,000 tractors were produced in the United States.
Tractors nowadays have become monsters in the fields with surrounded cabs having heating and air conditioning as well as television and stereos. Unfortunately, the manufacturing of small tractors has been relocated overseas.
It is anticipated the significance of the diesel tractors for farming will remain high in the US as worldwide farm commodity prices continue to increase.
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