55 Years And Counting From The Tractor Seat By bill whitman Jan Arvidsson is a long-time friend whose father was an IH distributor in Sweden. Jan grew up in the business and has an impressive collection of International trucks and tractors. He’s maintained a friendship with the current Case IH distributor, who has provided me with this update on the Swedish tractor market: It’s a significantly different market than the U.S. Electric tractor sales, for instance, are far apart. In the U.S., dairy operations, vineyards and fruit farms have started using electric autonomous tractors, largely because of labor shortages. In Sweden, there are no sales. Part of the cause of this is legal. Another is the plentiful labor supply. The same lack of demand exists in alternate fuel engines. They are on test in Sweden but not yet on the retail market. Methane power (such as New Holland) is in the test stage only. Alternative diesel demand is growing. However, it is still too expensive to reach large-volume sales. No autonomous sales yet exist in Sweden. Some legal issues must be addressed first. Sweden is a substantial tractor market, however, and has been a very progressive one through the years. Volvo electric wheel loader Volvo has released the L90 electric wheel loader, which should be popular in large feedlots. Dedicated electric motors for propulsion and hydraulics enable full available power for both systems. Continuous 4.5 hours of operation is claimed for full load, with 8 hours for light-duty operation. US tractor shipments… high point Heritage Iron Magazine recently researched past American tractor shipments at their all-time high. The year was 1951, and the total was 567,446. (It was eight years later before total tractors on U.S. farms would outnumber draft horses.) These high numbers were never again reached. By 1960, the annual total had dropped to 152,878 and never would future numbers go above that. A huge collection, now smaller The John Kinzenbaw collection (Kinze Mfg.) on Iowa Route 80 is multi-colored and one of the largest collections in the United States. The unverified estimate I was given is 600. On Nov. 4, the collection became slightly smaller. One-sixth of the collection was auctioned. Most were duplicates. Through the years, he bought tractors at auctions that were nicer than what he already had. He started the collection in 1979, and now, almost 50 years later, he sold the duplicates. The collection is beautifully displayed and worth your visit. From one extreme to another Some months back, I told you about my 6th grade after-school job plowing for our neighbor. It was my first experience driving a tractor for field work. I recall the McCormick 10-20 I was driving was very slow. A friend just told me how slow: The 10-20 had 3 speeds: 2 MPH, 3 MPH and 4 MPH. Contrast that with the recently announced New Holland Power Command full-power shift transmission on the T7.270 row crop tractor. Nineteen ratios are available with no break-in drive. The transmission is programmable as well, able to automatically shift when speed changes by desired intervals which are preset. This is quite some progress from the 10-20 over these past 100 years. This is not an easy year for agriculture. This quote seems timely. “Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.” Arnold Schwarzenegger Paul Wallem was raised on an Illinois dairy farm. He spent 13 years with corporate IH in domestic and foreign assignments. He resigned to own and operate two IH dealerships. He is the author of THE BREAKUP of IH And SUCCESSES and INDUSTRY FIRSTS of IH. See all his books on PaulWallem.com. E-mail your comments to pwallem@aol.com. |
