Glacier FarmMedia – There’s an old saying that everything old is new again. When it comes to automotive and machinery design, that seems to be true in spades. Diesel-electric equipment has been in use for decades, but until recently, that system had fallen out of favour with many equipment manufacturers, including heavy truck builders. “It’s […] Read more
Convert your truck into a hybrid
B.C.-based Edison Motors pioneers the retrofit market with its diesel-electric conversion kits for vocational trucks
Kuhn updates Dominator combination disc ripper
Design changes improve residue flow, reduce daily maintenance
Tillage implements have undergone a lot of changes over the past decade or two, with design influence from European manufacturers that have broken into the North American market. One of those brands, Kuhn, has become a significant player in the tillage segment since it acquired Kansas-based implement manufacturer Krause in 2011. This year, Kuhn announced […] Read more
Bobcat L95 – More horsepower and lift capacity
Glacier FarmMedia – Skid steer loaders and their tracked equivalents have become common in many farm fleets. Although they offer versatility for material handling, they do have a few design drawbacks. For one thing, operator visibility is restricted on the sides and especially to the rear, which can make avoiding obstacles difficult. Their low ground […] Read more
‘Combuggy’ used as mobile storage
An 8820 combine modified into a grain cart has the benefit of hydrostatic transmission and rear-wheel assist
Some pretty interesting machines have been built in farm workshops over the years. The odd one is marketed commercially, but most simply meet a need on the farm. For Mike Belan and his family’s farming operation near Sarnia, Ont., the workshop creation, dubbed the ‘Combuggy’, has been helping grain handling operations run smoothly since 2000. […] Read more
Kubota updates the M7 tractor line
The fourth generation of the M7 tractors are offered with a new front-end loader
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 2023, Kubota introduced a fourth generation version of the M7 tractors. The three […] Read more
The final years of Brantford’s MF combine assembly plant
Declining sales and accumulated debt necessitate drastic measures
In this final instalment of a four-part series on the Brantford Massey Ferguson combine plant (read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3, here), the story wraps up with a look at the plant’s final days and what was left unfinished as Massey Ferguson abandoned combine manufacturing in the 1980s. As the 1980s began, the […] Read more
Başak Traktör of Turkey looks to move Versatile brand forward
Buhler Industries announced the Turkish firm had bought its majority stake
“One of the keys for us was making sure we found a partner that was committed to preserving the Versatile and Farm King brands,” said Adam Reid, VP of sales and marketing at Versatile. “We wanted to make sure the viability of the plant here in Winnipeg and our staff was secure. And taking care of all of our stakeholders, the suppliers, shareholders.”
Bourgault becomes third shortliner acquired by Linamar since 2017
Leadership say they want to double the business of the maker of Highline equipment and Freeform Plastics
In 2017 Linamar, a company best known as an auto parts manufacturer, purchased Winnipeg-based header and swather manufacturer MacDon. It followed that up by bringing implement brand Salford into its fold in 2022. In late December the company announced it is now adding Saskatchewan-based air drill manufacturer Bourgault into its family of shortline ag equipment brands.
Massey Ferguson assesses the competition
Company finds ways to see what engineers for other brands are testing
In the third instalment on Massey Ferguson’s manufacturing history in Ontario (read Part 1 and Part 2 here), we examine what it was like to be a combine field test engineer for the company in the 1970s. Here is a compilation of recollections from various engineers who worked at MF’s Brantford plant during that time. […] Read more
Supporting the Harvest Brigade
The 1970s and early ’80s were the heyday of MF’s Brantford combine plant
This is the second instalment in our series on the history of Massey’s Ferguson’s combine assembly plant in Brantford, Ont. The early 1970s were good to Massey-Ferguson’s shareholders, and the Brantford combine plant was working flat out to meet demand for its combines. The 410 and 510 had catapulted MF to the front of the […] Read more
