The agricultural machinery industry or agricultural engineering industry is the part of the industry, that produces and maintain tractors, agricultural machinery and agricultural implements used in farming or other agriculture. This branch is considered to be part of the machinery industry.
History See also history of Agricultural machinery and Mechanised agriculture
19th century The agricultural machinery industry emerged in Britain and the United States in the 19th century. Until then the common tools of farming were the plough and the sickle.R.C. Gifford. Agricultural Engineering in Development: Concepts and principles. 1992. pp. 7–8 These iron agricultural implements were often made by blacksmiths in the local village, who regularly also acted as farrier. In the first part of the 19th century some of the early agricultural machine manufacturers arose from these blacksmith workshops,Jan H. Maas (1994) De Nederlandse agrosector: geografie en dynamiek p. 177.Gifford (1992, p. 9) even stated that "nearly all farm machinery manufacturers today can be trace their beginnings to a blacksmith." such as John Deere who started up with the production of ploughs in series in the 1840s.
Other companies arose from the introduction of horse drawn reaping, which replaced the type of hand reaper in use since biblical times. A company as the McCormick started up with building these kind of harvesting machines around the 1840s. And another origin of agricultural industry was the introduction of combined harvesting, threshing and cleaning in the 1830s. The Case Corporation for example started building those in 1842 as the Racine Threshing Machine Works. Until early 20th century most of those machinery were powered by horses.
Mid 19th century the portable steam-powered plowing engines were introduced. They were used in pairs, placed on either side of a field to haul a plow back and forth between them using a wire cable. These portable engines were also used to power threshing machines, mills and pumps. The portable steam engines were produced by specific agricultural machinery maker, such as Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies who had started as brass and iron-founder making casting ploughshares late 18th century.
Late 19th century in Britain more companies such as Richard Garrett & Sons and Mann’s Patent Steam Cart and Wagon Company developed steam tractors for direct ploughing, but the heavy, wet soil of England meant that these designs were less economical than a team of horses. In the United States, where soil conditions permitted, steam tractors were used to direct-haul plows. Steam-powered agricultural engines remained in use well into the 20th century until reliable internal combustion engines had been developed.
Collins (1987) recalled that the impact of the agricultural machinery industry in the 19th century was still limited. He stated : "prior the third quarter of the nineteenth century the impact of machinery in agriculture was slight compared with that in manufacturing industry. Some operations such as barn work and hay and corn harvesting had been largely mechanized by 1880 but, up to the Second World War, many were still performed by hand labour and large numbers of workers were still required for seasonal tasks such as hop- and fruit-picking and vegetable cultivations."Collins, Edward JT. "The rationality of'surplus' agricultural labour: mechanization in English agriculture in the nineteenth century." The Agricultural History Review (1987): 36-46.
20th century In the beginning of the 20th century in the UK the Agricultural machinery industry "although composed of many hundreds of firms, was dominated by a few large ones, chiefly in the eastern counties of England. The total output of the industry was estimated to be worth 6.5 million pounds in 1913, or about 5 percent of the total value of the output of the mechanical engineering industry at the first Census of Production in 1907."Dewey, Peter. "The British Agricultural Machinery Industry, 1914-1939: Boom, Crisis, and Response." Agricultural History (1995): 298-313.
In the first decennia the internal combustion engine; first the petrol engine, and later diesel engines; became the main source of power for the next generation of tractors. Early companies expanded into the tractor business, such as John Deere which bought the Waterloo Gasoline Engine Company in 1918, which manufactured the popular Waterloo Boy tractor. In the 1930s new technologies as rubber ties and hydrologics were introduced in tractors and other farm machinery.Gifford (1992, p. 8) The diesel engines also contributed to the development of the self-propelled, combined harvester and thresher, or combine harvester (also shortened to 'combine'). Instead of cutting the grain stalks and transporting them to a stationary threshing machine, these combines cut, threshed, and separated the grain while moving continuously through the field.
In the second part of the 20th century the production of agricultural machinery in development countries rose rapidly. In the 1960s a country as the UK exported more than 60% of its production to Western Europe, Australia, USA, Canada and South Africa, and main manufacturers started production plants abroad. Another trend was the increased concentration among manufacturers. In the 1970s in the UK six companies supplied 75% of the total output.Keith Cowling, David Metcalf, A. J. Rayner. (1973) Resource Structure of Agriculture: An Economic Analysis, p. 127-8See also: World bank (1954) Western Europe - Tractor and agricultural machinery industry.
The further mechanization of agriculture in the 20th century made possible by the agricultural machinery industry had a huge impact of the economic structure of society. In the developed countries the total labour force engaged in agriculture dropped from about 75% in 1800 to less than 5% late 20th century.Gifford (1992, p. 9) In developing countries, in late 20th century still 75% of all land "was farmed with only hand-tools and draught-animal technology."Gifford (1992, p. 10) In Turkey still 48% and in India 66.5% of the labor were working in agriculture, according to the FAO Production Yearbook 1990.
21st century A 2013 report by the VDMA gave the following preview of the current developments in the agricultural machinery industry: The general trends in society, agriculture and technology allow conclusions about the future requirements profile for agricultural machinery... The depicted dominating topics for the agricultural sector are Precision & automation Efficiency & user friendliness Communication & networking These topics are today already central components of the specifications for new developments...VDMA. Agricultural Machinery November 2013 : Market Perspectives 2014, 2013-14. p. 5
Agricultural machinery
The agricultural machinery industry produces agricultural machinery, machinery used in the operation of agricultural areas and farms. Main types are:Ade Asefeso (2012). CEO Guide to Doing Business in Australia, p. 54 Tractors and power. Machinery for tillage or soil cultivation. Machinery for planting, seeding, fertilizing, pest control, irrigation. Machinery for harvesting, haymaking, and post-harvest, such as produce sorters, and machinery for loading Machinery for milking Other agricultural machinery, for example grinder mixers, wool presses and windmills. In developed countries overall the largest segment of agricultural equipment sales is tractors.
Agricultural machinery manufacturers Agricultural machinery manufacturers exist in sizes from small and medium business to multinationals. James & Akrasanee (1988) stipulated that those forms have different production management, and can be classified into three groups: The first group consists of those workshops with limited and simple equipment. Despite their flexibility, the production management system is very rare in this case. The second group includes those with certain degrees of division of labour within the plant. They do organize some plant layout, but not in a fully systematic manner. The last group constitutes those with clear production lines and division of labour.Kenneth James, Narongchai Akrasanee. Small and Medium Business Improvement in the ASEAN Region: Production Management. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1 dec. 1988
The two largest agricultural machinery manufacturers worldwide based on revenue (in 2012):The leading machinery manufacturers worldwide in 2012, based on revenue. Accessed 25.11.2014. John Deere : $37.79 billion revenues and employing 67,000 people worldwide in 2013. Its workforce has increased significantly in the past decennia from 43.000 in 2002 to 67.000 in 2013.Number of employees of John Deere (Deere & Company) from 2002 to 2013. Accessed 25.11.2014. CNH Industrial : $19.4 billion revenues and employing 33.800 people worldwide in 2013.
In the United States the revenue of tractor & agricultural machinery manufacturing sector increased from about 35 billion U.S. dollars in 2009 to 42 billion U.S. dollars in 2014.Revenue of tractor & agricultural machinery manufacturing (NAICS 33311) in the United States from 2009 to 2014 (in billion U.S. dollars). Accessed 25.11.2014.
Active
AGCO Agrale Agrinar Al-Ghazi Tractors Algerian Tractors Company Arbos ARGO SpA Basak Traktor Carraro Agritalia Case IH Challenger Tractors Claas CNH Industrial Daedong Deutz-Fahr Erkunt Tractor Escorts Limited Fendt Goldoni Iseki JCB John Deere Kharkiv Tractor Plant Kirov Plant Kubota Lamborghini Trattori Landini Lindner LS Mtron Mahindra Tractors Massey Ferguson McCormick Tractors Millat Tractors Minsk Tractor Works Mitsubishi Agricultural Machinery New Holland Agriculture Pronar Shibaura Sonalika Tractors SAME SAS Motors SDF Group Steyr TAFE TYM Ursus SA Valpadana Valtra Versatile Yanmar YTO Group Zetor Zoomlion
Former
Allis-Chalmers Case Corporation Ferguson-Brown Company Fiat Trattori Ford International Harvester Leyland Tractors Massey-Harris Renault Agriculture
Agricultural machinery associations Some of the more important agricultural machinery associations are:
Agricultural Engineers Association (AEA): British trade association which represents manufacturers and importers of agricultural machinery and outdoor equipment.About the AEA. Accessed 27.11.2014. Agrievolution: global network of agricultural machinery associations.Agrevolution website Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM): American association which represents manufacturers of agricultural machinery.AEM website CEMA: European association representing the agricultural machinery industry in Europe.CEMA website Mechanical Engineering Industry Association(VDMA): German manufacturers' association which represents manufacturers of agricultural machinery.
Global agricultural machinery industry According to the CEMA, the European association representing the European agricultural machinery industry, Europe was the largest producer of agricultural machinery globally in 2013: Europe produced 31% of the global production North America produced 26.5% of the global production, China produced 26.5% of the global production, and The remaining 16% is produced elsewhere. In total, the production of agricultural machinery worldwide in 2013 generated about 95 billion euros, based on a report Agricultural Machinery November 2013 : Market Perspectives 2014VDMA. Agricultural Machinery November 2013 : Market Perspectives 2014, 2013-14. p. 25 by the VDMA, a German engineering association. Another recent statistic mentioned, that the agricultural machinery industry in 2010 generated worldwide about $56 billion.Agricultural Machinery Industry Market Research & Statistics. Accessed 25.11.2014.
Agricultural machinery industry in Europe