Tractor Wars: John Deere, Henry Ford, International Harvester, and the Birth of Modern Agriculture   Import  Single ASIN

5 reviews for Tractor Wars: John Deere, Henry Ford, International Harvester, and the Birth of Modern Agriculture   Import  Single ASIN

1. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   Robber E Lee – 25 June 2023

   Good history
   I have been interested in tractors for many years and have read a lot regarding the ag equipment industry’s history. So there wasn’t a lot of new information for but I did learn some new things Mostly about Ford whose history isn’t as well-documented as Deere and IH.I’ve seen other reviewers note that the book seems to end somewhat abruptly in the late 1920s. To me this supports a not-so-obvious theme that runs through this book. While there is a lot of balanced history between all three makers, I took away that the story being told here really is about Deere’s advances to successfully compete against IH and Ford in the tractor market. The book ends at the point where Deere got its act together.

2. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   Ernest Lilley – 25 January 2022

   Ford vs Harvester and John Deere in the rise of the farm tractor
   There’s something about tractors that draws a boy’s attention. I learned to drive in the 1960s on a 1948 Farmall Cub on my grandfather’s land in Vermont, and at a recent visit to a farm stand, I was delighted to find an almost identical, so it’s not surprising that Tractor Wars caught my eye. (Note: the photo here is me on a Farmall Cub, the tractor I learned to drive on some 50 years ago.)In Tractor Wars, Neil Dahlstrom gives us an inside look at the birth of the farm tractor starting in the late 1800s and culminating with Ford’s transition to overseas manufacturing in Ireland at the end of the 1920s. Drawing heavily on biographies, board room records, and newspaper clippings, the book’s focus is on corporate strategies, alliances, and competitions. Readers may be surprised to discover how late to the game John Deere was, but not especially surprised that when Henry Ford entered the fray with his Fordson tractor, his techniques of mass production and ruthless pricing gave him immediate dominance in the field(s).While the focus is on the competition, largely between Harvester (which became International Harvester), Deere, and Ford, what I found most interesting was how the story of the tractor meshed with other events. The rise of an industrialized economy and the outbreak of war in Europe meant the beginning of the exodus from the farm, and the tractor was a large part of the mechanization of agriculture that allowed for much larger yields and reduced labor. Henry Ford, who looms large in this tale, grew up on a farm but had no love for farming and was frustrated by the inefficiencies he saw in farm practice. Not only did he want to make farming a modern business, but he wanted to free the agricultural workforce to work in factories.At the turn of the century, horse and mule were the rule in farming, but over the next two decades, the adoption of power machinery lead to bigger farms and paved the way to modern agribusiness. Ford, always the champion of the average buyer produced a smaller tractor than Harvestor, or eventually, Deere. Aimed at the small farm and priced to be affordable to anyone his Fordson tractor would dominate sales for over a decade.Neil Dahlstrom puts human faces on the drama in a very readable way. I would have liked more about the technical evolution of the machines, but if it’s not the main thrust it’s not neglected. The text is about the companies and the men that ran them, but the story is set against the rise of the industrial age, which it shows from a unique perspective.

   
3. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   Wiliam M. Sorem – 3 February 2022

   Intersting Unknown Battle of Tractor Attempts
   Fascinating story of the beginning of the US farm tractor. I did not remember that Henry Ford was a farmer, and he forced the development of the Ford tractor over company resistance. There were a lot of other attempts, some of them immediate failures. The book ends before the transition from steel wheels that raised hell with paved roads, to pneumatic tires, pioneered by Allis Chalmers and Ray Firestone. I grew up on a farm and lived through the transition from horses to tractor farming. It was a huge revolution. We went from four horses to an Allis Chalmers C tractor. A Ford tractor feature, well known in my time, was its fast road gear. I remember a neighbor speeding down the highway in front of the farm for his daily trip to the town saloon. He drove very carefully on his return trip. Even though the author is a John Deere historian, I was disappointed that the book ended before the iconic John Deere horizontal two cylinders with flywheel start, and its distinctive put, put sound. I was old enough to hand pull the flywheel with an open petcock on the engine block to start the beast.

4. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   Frederick S. Goethel – 7 March 2022

   A Detailed Look At Tractor Development
   I was attracted to this book as I have driven a Harvester Farm-all and been exposed to more modern tractor equipment later in life. It is a detailed story of the development and implementation of tractors to replace the use of horses and mules on farms.A war wouldn’t be the right description of what went on. More about a number of companies all trying to get into the business and perfect a “perfect” tractor with Deere holding back, Ford going all in and Harvester in the lead.My only complaint about the book is the lack of information about the Holt Tractor Company in California which developed into the Caterpillar tractor and is widely used in some parts of the country, especially where land compaction is an issue.Overall, and excellent read, although a bit dry at times and gives the reader a sense of how much tractor development aided farming in the United States and overseas.

5. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Farm Guy – 9 March 2023

   Interesting read
   Liked this book. Learned tractor history that I did not know. Would recommend it to other tractor enthusiasts.