Başak Traktör, which is based in Sakarya,Turkey, and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ASKO Holding, announced Dec. 20 it has acquired 96.7 percent of the outstanding shares of Buhler Industries, the parent company of Winnipeg-based Versatile and Farm King brands. The deal includes Başak Traktör assuming all the company’s outstanding debt, and in total is […] Read more
Machinery — page 26
Final years of Massey Ferguson’s assembly plant
Declining sales and accumulated debt forced the sale of the combine division and closure of the plant
In this final instalment of our four-part series on the Massey Ferguson combine plant in Brantford, Ont., the story wraps up with a look at the plant’s final days and what was left unfinished as the company abandoned combine manufacturing in the 1980s. As the 1980s began, the evolution toward fewer, larger farms had taken […] Read more
Ottawa, equipment industry clash over right to repair
A recent federal call to formalize producers’ right to repair their own equipment ignores what manufacturers are already doing to boost farmers’ capacity to do so, according to a leader in the North American equipment arena. The federal government is considering an adjustment to the Competition Act that would prevent manufacturers from denying farmers the […] Read more
The future of high horsepower tractors
Practicality drives engine and power innovation in agriculture equipment. Companies are developing products suited for work on the farm, instead of depending on electrification. The near future will include cleaner diesel combustion engines, hydrogen and battery, and often a combination of them. There were many electric-power options of less than 100 horsepower at Agritechnica, the […] Read more
Engineers keep a close eye on the competition
Massey Ferguson engineers had a reputation for being unconventional while producing combine concepts
In part three of this four part series, we take a look at what it was like to be a combine field test engineer for Massey Ferguson back in the 1970s. Here is a compilation of recollections from various engineers who worked at MF’s Brantford plant during that time. Whenever a brand develops a new […] Read more
New UTV models from Kubota
In mid-November, Kubota announced changes to its line of UTVs with two new diesel-powered models. “The first one is the RTV-X Series,” said Justin Parrott, product manager for turf and RTV products at Kubota. “This is going to be the replacement for the previous X900 and X1120 models. And it’s really packed in a ton […] Read more
Production briefs
New Holland reveals CR11 New Holland’s CR11 combine has a 775 horsepower C16 engine mounted lengthwise so that it spins in the same direction as the rotors. Geert Nerinckx of New Holland said the combine is bigger than what’s currently on the market. “Our goal with this new combine was to bring down the total […] Read more
To fix or not to fix?
Like many other producers, Jake Ayre spends a fair amount of time on the following question: fix it or trade it in? “Every farmer probably has this case: do I pay that $50,000 repair bill on this combine or tractor? Or do I look at taking that $50,000 and putting it on a down payment […] Read more
Borrowing costs hit Deere demand
(Reuters) — Deere and Co. forecast 2024 profits below analysts’ expectations, saying high borrowing costs and tighter budgets will likely dent demand for the farm equipment maker’s agriculture and construction machinery. Deere predicted a downturn in agriculture and construction equipment sales across all of its regions for the fiscal year ahead, validating analysts’ concern that […] Read more
Kubota updates the M7 tractor line
Kubota has steadily grown its presence in the agricultural equipment sector during the past few years. That has meant adding more horsepower to the top end of its tractor line, including the previous introductions of the M7 and M8 models. In August, Kubota introduced a fourth generation version of the M7 tractors. The three updated […] Read more
