Photo courtesy Wisconsin Historical Society
Red Combines The story of the little engine that did, and the people behind it. By Nancy Miller Barton
TEXAS LIFESTYLE | REVIEWS
What weighs six pounds, is black and white and red all over? A new coffee table book on none other than red combines (think farm equipment). The book, by Austin photographer and author Lee Klancher and his team, is out this fall. Red Combines 1915-2015: The Authoritative Guide to International Harvester and Case IH Combines and Harvesting Equipment is a seriously intriguing read. “I like to say the combine allowed the Internet to exist,” says Klancher, who is the book’s lead author and photo editor. A bold statement, but as you read through his 384-page book you realize that’s not a reach. For those who need a refresher, the combine harvester is a piece of equipment that can cut, thresh, clean and bag grain in one pass. It was invented to harvest wheat but is now called on to harvest many crops. The combine was first horse-drawn, later pulled by tractor, and finally self-propelled. The invention meant productivity and volume, freeing people to do other things, like “create new technologies.” As Klancher points out in the book’s introduction, “the rotary combine was an idea that sprang from the farm … separating grain required massive amounts of time. As the industrial revolution came on, people … focused on finding more efficient ways to perform routine tasks.” Perhaps more directly put, he writes, some folks had incentive to innovate, namely, “the men and women who grew up laying on the ground, fixing broken manure spreader chains in 20-below-zero weather and thinking, ‘Darn it, there has to be a better way.’” Red Combines paints a picture of farm life. As recently as the 1930s, farmers were harvesting corn by hand. On average, a farmer could husk about 300 ears of corn in an hour. Not productive when you’re feeding a growing nation. Vintage advertisements in the book help tell the story. A World War II poster reads, “All Harvester Products are War Products.” During wartime, “most agricultural manufacturers were kept busy building war machines,” Klancher explains. “The government controlled steel allocation … one of the few products ag companies were allowed to build was combines.” Looking to the future, American farmers today comprise 0.6% of the population. Compare that to 12% in the ‘50s. “Yet, this tiny number of people feeds our nation,” notes Klancher, “and significant parts of the world.” Red Combines—a six-pound book for good reason. It’s a substantial story. OCTANEPRESS.COM
Texas Lifestyle Magazine 67