Farming In The 1960s Essay

Farming In The 1960s Think about what you eat, it was probably grown out west, planted and harvested by huge machinery of the 21st century. Technology that most people wouldn’t never understand how to run or what it did. How ever it wasn't always like this. There was a time when it was all simpler. Back when anyone could drive a simple tractor and run a set of plows. In the 1950s tractor production wasn't at its peak, yet, and a lot of work was still done by horses. That all changed in 1960 when John Deere came out with the 4010. It was a 2 wheel drive cabless tractor but it had 72 horse power. That still wasn't good enough for the big farms so in 1963 they came out with the 5010. It was 106 horsepower and that was enough for the big farms. Next they come out with the 20 series. That consisted of the 1020, that had 32 horse power, the 2020, that had 44 horsepower, the 3020, that had 55 horse power, and the 4020, that had 75-83 horsepower. These tractors over the years gained a lot of add ons from cabs, to 4 wheel drive. Some of these tractors are still in operation today and are arguably the best tractors John Deere ever made.

By 1964, John Deere had 34% of the tractor market and were the number 1 selling tractor in the United States. By the mid 1960s 100s of farmers had died in tractor roll overs. John Deere introduced the “Roll Guard”. Not many farmers wanted or could afford it. A lot of farmers just said an accident like that couldn't happen to them and passed on it. Along with roll overs, there was a lot of fast moving cars colliding with slow moving tractors. A Ohio State University student made the first florescent orange and yellow triangle which now stands for slow moving