Forty Years of Power Farming Progress

Farmers Guide 40th anniversary

Forty Years of Power Farming Progress

Power farming has made enormous progress since the first issue of Farmers Guide arrived 40 years ago in 1979, and keeping readers informed of new tractor and machinery developments remains one of the magazine’s most important functions each month. Mike Williams writes.

One of the key trends throughout the 40-year period has been the demand for more tractor power to boost output as farmers and contractors respond to rising labour costs and other pressures. The average power of new tractors sold in 1979/80 was about 75hp according to an estimate from the Agricultural Engineers Association (AEA), with about 43 per cent of the tractors producing 70hp or less and only 9 per cent in the 100hp plus category. The 2018 figures show that average power had doubled to 150.5hp, and the upward trend is predicted to continue.

As well as increased engine power, tractor developments have also included a big rise in the popularity of more advanced transmissions such as CVT, powershift and shuttle gearboxes that can contribute to productivity. Other developments since 1979 include extending the popularity of fourwheel drive in the lower and medium power ranges, and there has been a big increase in the number of tractors equipped to handle front-mounted equipment to allow increased versatility in the field.

Tyres and tracks have also featured prominently during the past 40 years of tractor progress. Soil compaction became an increasing concern during the 1970s and early 1980s because of the ground pressure caused by heavier tractors and bigger trailers and machinery, and demonstrations were organised in major arable farming areas to encourage the use of tyres that help reduce the ground pressure. Goodyear Terra-Tires with a low inflation pressure and a large footprint area were a popular choice in the 1980s, followed by the new generation of radial ply tyres that are now almost standard equipment on tractors used for field work.

As well as reducing soil compaction, today’s farm tyres also need to cope with faster travel speeds. Tractors with a 40kph top speed capability were a rarity in the 1979, but they are now a popular option, and in 1990 the first of the new JCB Fastracs put the emphasis on transport efficiency with top speeds of around 70kph complemented by 4-wheel braking plus front and rear suspension.

The first JCB Fastracs arrived in 1990 to give a boost to transport efficiency.

Rubber tracks introduced in 1989 on the Challenger 65 tractor renewed interest in tracklayers.

Round balers have been one of the machinery success stories during the past 40 years.

Traditional benefits offered by tracklaying tractors included increased traction efficiency, reduced ground pressure and improved stability on steep ground, but sales were on a steady downward trend from the mid-1950s onwards. Reasons for the fading popularity included restrictions on road travel for traditional steel tracks, which were also slow and noisy with expensive maintenance costs. Many crawler tractors were replaced by the increasingly popular four-wheel drive models, and by the mid-1980s there was a real possibility that tracklayers would soon be an endangered species in the UK. The threat of tracklayer extinction was averted in 1989 with the UK launch of the new Caterpillar Challenger 65 tractor with steel reinforced rubber tracks. Powered by a 270hp engine, it made the traditional steel tracks virtually redundant with its road-legal 29kph top speed. Benefits offered by the rubber tracks were soon adopted to offer improved traction and reduced soil compaction for heavy self-propelled equipment including combine harvesters and many of the biggest root crop harvesters.

Tractors have played a major role in the adoption of precision farming methods, but the first successful attempt to show the potential benefits of harnessing space age technology came in 1991 when Massey Ferguson provided a yield mapping demonstration with one of its MF-40 combine harvesters. Yield mapping is now widely available on combines, using yield measurement as the crop is harvested and linking this with data from the Global Positioning Satellite or GPS network 12,000 miles away in space. Yield maps produced during the harvest can be used as a management aid to identify areas where crop yields can be increased by dealing with problems such as soil compaction or poor drainage.

Since the original yield mapping demonstration, precision farming technology has been adapted for use with a wide range of equipment such as guidance systems to aid steering accuracy, automatic boom, section and nozzle control on sprayers, width control for fertiliser spreading plus headland management and control systems.

The bulk handling trend was already well established on farms when the first issue of Farmers Guide arrived, and rapid development continued throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Examples include using bulk tanks instead of milk churns, combine harvesters with a bagging platform disappeared as grain tanks took over, while small bales for manually handling hay and straw were quickly replaced by big round and rectangular packages. The shrinking demand for traditional small balers is indicated by statistics from the AEA showing annual delivery figures for various machinery categories, with 3,900 new small balers bought by farmers and contractors in 1979, but only 65 were recorded for 2018. Big round baler sales increased from 650 to 1,060 over the same period, and there has also been a growth market for big square balers.

One of the spin-offs from the bulk handling trend was a need for special equipment to deal with the large numbers of big bales, pallets and potato or fruit boxes on farms. Rough-terrain forklift trucks arrived from the construction industry during the early 1970s, but they were soon joined by a new generation of telescopic loaders providing much more lift height and forward reach. JCB introduced its first Loadall model in 1977. It was called the 520 and was marketed initially as a machine for the construction industry, but JCB quickly appreciated its potential for materials handling work on farms with agricultural sales starting in 1978, and the Loadall was soon joined by a rapidly growing list of competitors.

While telehandlers have taken over much of the materials handling work on farms, front-end loaders for tractors are still important for jobs such as loading manure spreaders or transferring silage from a clamp to the mixer wagon. In spite of the telehandler success story, deliveries of front-end loaders amounted to a respectable 3,700 in 2018, down from 6,150 in 1979. There has been a much bigger reduction in the delivery figures for mouldboard ploughs, which have fallen from 3,750 in 1979 to 730 last year, with some of the reduction due to rotational instead of annual ploughing on many farms. There has also been a big increase in the average number of furrows, often allowing one large plough to replace two smaller models.

Machinery success stories such as telescopic loaders have provided good news for Britain’s farm equipment manufacturers, but the industry has also lost some prominent companies as competition for sales increased during the past 40 years. In the machinery sector Bamfords, Howard Rotavator and Ransomes all ceased trading since 1979, and prominent UK companies that have stopped tractor production include County, David Brown, Muir Hill and Marshall, while Massey Ferguson also stopped making tractors in the UK.

Farming entered the space age in 1991 when Massey-Ferguson demonstrated GPS linked yield mapping.

Telescopic loaders have made a big contribution to materials handling progress.