ALL ABOUT TRACTORS BY PAUL WALLEM Because I have had dealerships in the past, they recently asked for my thoughts on what changes have had the largest impact on dealers over the past 50 years. Here is my list of impactful changes. (There is no doubt that farmers were also affected.) - The arrival of computers provides better control over reordering in a dealer parts inventory. - The 1969 merger of Minneapolis-Moline, Oliver and Cockshutt into White. - The massive impact of the IH five-month strike during 1979-80, which accelerated the IH downfall. - The “Perfect Storm,” which started in 1980 for all dealers and farmers due to 21 percent interest rates, a drop in farmland values, the devastating grain embargo, and the resulting massive drop in machinery purchases. - The number of farm equipment dealers in the U.S. dropped by 50 percent from 1980 to 1986. - Multiple dealer ownership groups started to become popular, and during the ‘90s, groups of at least five became common. Farmers appeared to like the multiple ownerships more and more because of the much larger inventories of parts amongst each group. - The incorporation of AGCO started a significant consolidation of manufacturers, including Deutz-Allis, Fendt, Massey Ferguson, Gleaner, White and Hesston. - The development of GPS and precision farming changed the dealerships dramatically, and because of this, many farm operations have also changed. - Following close behind, Digital Agriculture arrived with electric-powered tractors and autonomous operation. Progress never halts. Changes will keep coming, probably at an even faster rate. Hydrogen-filled tractors are here New Holland has announced the immediate availability of their new H2 Dual Power tractors. Dual power runs on a combination of hydrogen and diesel, emitting much lower CO2 and NOx with no loss of torque or power. These are built in Italy and converted to dual fuel in the Netherlands. Hydrogen is becoming a significant fuel source for transportation and is being developed for use in agriculture. Dual-fuel combustion engines have the same working lives, purchase costs, and operating costs as standard combustion engines. Only minimal modifications are required to adapt internal combustion engines. Hydrogen refueling locations are still very scarce. Lower CO2 emissions are the incentive to add more locations. Because commercial airliners are major CO2 producers, the industry is deep into research and development. Another industry, heavy-duty cross-country trucking, produces significant amounts of CO2. Cummins is a leading manufacturer of truck engines. In 2022, they announced two new truck engines fueled by green hydrogen will be for sale in 2027. The Cummins engines will mix hydrogen directly with diesel, similar to the New Holland engine design. CO2 emissions fall in proportion to the amount of hydrogen injected. Green hydrogen is the most beneficial, also called “renewable hydrogen,” because it is produced using renewable energy. It is “green” if the electricity and heat produced are sustainably generated, e.g., from wind farm turbines, solar panels, or biomass. Hydrogen is a chemical element comprising 75 percent of the universe’s mass. It is a gas at room temperature but transforms into liquid at a temperature of -252.8 C and freezes to a solid at 259.2 C. It contains up to three times as much energy per unit of mass as diesel. Burning it emits no CO2. All it produces is water. These new designs from major engine manufacturers are expected to reduce CO2 significantly. Paul Wallem was raised on an Illinois dairy farm. He spent 13 years with IH in domestic and foreign assignments. He resigned to own and operate two IH dealerships. He is the author of THE BREAKUP of IH and SUCCESSES & INDUSTRY FIRSTS of IH. See all his books on www.PaulWallem. E-mail comments to pwallem@aol.com. |
