page_title: Agricultural machinery industry
section_title: 20th century
hierarchical_section_title: Agricultural machinery industry / History / 20th century
caption_attribution_description: Original image description from the Deutsche Fotothek IFA-Traktor mit Anbauwechselpflug
context_page_description: The agricultural machinery industry or agricultural engineering industry is the part of the industry, that produces and maintain tractors, agricultural machinery and agricultural implements. This branch is considered to be part of the machinery industry.
context_section_description: 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."
  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. 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.
  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. In developing countries, in late 20th century still 75% of all land "was farmed with only hand-tools and draught-animal technology." In Turkey still 48% and in India 66.5% of the labor were working in agriculture, according to the FAO Production Yearbook 1990.
caption: Agricultural exhibitions, 1951
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