DAYSLAND, Alta. – The Nebraska Tractor Test Laboratory was started after a farmer bought three dud tractors in a row.
“They didn’t work. All they did was break down,” said Roger Hoy, director of the Nebraska Tractor Test laboratory in Lincoln.
In 1919, the Nebraska legislature passed a law that ensured tractors met a certain standard and did not exaggerate claims of horsepower, drawbar horsepower or fuel consumption.
Every tractor sold in Nebraska must be tested in the tractor test laboratory to ensure its claims match the tests. Tests have become standard for tractors across North America, with similar test labs in Europe.
Read Also
Chinese, Indian tariffs take toll on pea prices
The disruption of pea exports from Canada’s largest customers will likely result in slow pea exports for the remainder of the crop year.
The Nebraska lab performs five main tests on each new tractor: power take-off, hydraulic power, lift force, drawbar performance and sound level.
“We try not to say what is better or worse and just publish the data,” Hoy told farmers at a tractor workshop.
All the test results are published on-line. The data tells farmers which gear ratio is the most fuel efficient, which tractors have less power than advertised and which tractors meet or exceed sound levels. Manufacturers’ claims are also reported in the results.
“If they don’t always meet a claim, it will be noted.”
Smaller acreage and orchard tractors often can’t meet the standards they claim and won’t submit their tractors to the test lab, he said.
“It’s a big reason they don’t test.”
