DECATUR, Ill. – The Farm Progress Show celebrated its 20th anniversary this year in Decatur. The first Farm Progress show was in Armstrong, Ill., in 1953. Just last week, the Half Century of Progress, celebrating 50 years of ag history prior to the Farm Progress show, took place in Rantoul at the former Chanute Airforce base. The first Half Century show was held in Armstrong in 2005 before moving to Rantoul.

While the Farm Progress show is all about what is new and staying up to date, there was also a lot of old iron that antique tractor collectors could enjoy. Some of the tractors were carry-overs from the previous week’s Half Century show, and others were not.

Some old iron was scattered among the displays, and others could be found in Classic Tractor row. Daniel Haege’s beautiful 1999 John Deere 4555 tractor was on display in the John Deere tent. “We bought this new from the local dealership in Nashville, Ill.” Haege shared.

Jackson Laux, the 10-year-old social media star, was on hand checking out Haege’s tractor on the first day of the show. Laux, of This is Just a Jackson Thing, also posed with several groups of FFA students at the show for the day.

Sloan had a 1965 John Deere orchard one of 139 orchards made. Sloan’s didn’t only have Deere on hand; they also had a 1965 International Harvester IH 1206. The 1206 60th anniversary was just celebrated at the Half Century of Progress. They amassed an amazing 231 tractors which they think may have been the largest 1206 gathering ever.

In the Titan tent, Big Bud KTTA 700 was there along with a 1947 Famall M with a patriotic décor. Signage beside the tractor shared that Titan supports FFA students restoring tractors and antique tractor rides and the community.  “We took our support to the next level when we purchased our Farmall M and took a more active role as participants in the tractor rides, we supported.”

Farm toys like the Case Farmall 806 that last year celebrated 100 years of production history were on sale. Outside the Case building was a Farmall Super MTA with torque amplifier owned by Perry Sage, of Thomasboro, Ill. On the sign they share, “3rd generation owner.”

Auction companies like Big Iron had a nice Deere lineup of upcoming new generation tractors to hit the auction block. The lineup included a 1967 John Deere 4020 2WD tractor, a 1972 John Deere 4000 2 WD tractor and others as well.

Vintage harvest equipment was also mixed among the new like a TR70 New Holland combine sitting close by the new equipment in the New Holland tent.

At the Classic Tractor row, there were several antique beauties, and Minneapolis Moline had a strong showing. Steve McCoy, of Decatur, brought a 1950 Massey Ferguson 96 that was built by Minneapolis Moline that came from Alberta, Canada. There were several rare MM’s in the row, including Bill Ellis’s UDS diesel Minneapolis Moline. Ellis explained that during World War II, the larger U tractor “helped feed the nation” in England. After the war, they wanted to get away from gas, and decided to develop a diesel version of the U.

An Ibid description of a UDS tractor states, “Tilney & Co started imports of MM tractors and other products following an agreement with MM in 1939. After the war, in 1946, Tilney & Co and MM formed MM (England) Ltd to manufacture tractors and machinery. The UDS were offered for sale with either a Dorman or Meadows engine.”

At the show, some visitors from the Norfolk region of the UK stopped by and recognized the tractor. “That’s John’s tractor,” one of them said. Ellis said it will be forever from now on known as, “John’s Tractor.”

Ellis also had a MM G1000 that had once been a raffle tractor. Many other MM tractors were there, along with Jeff Laleman’s 1943 NT Clone, and 1940 MM Experimental tractor. For those that admire the muscle tractors, there was an MM articulating A4T1699 and an MM 1970 1350 “Heritage” tractor that was on the cover of Heritage Iron Magazine in 2022. The 1350 tractor was owned by Bob Vivian, of Amboy, Ill.

There were vintage tractors of almost every brand and color to appeal to various collectors at the 2025 Farm Progress Show.