Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price • Hacker News Board

Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

#171

Post by MrMetric » Wed, Apr 22, 2026, 6:37 PM UTC

malfist wrote: post #151

adamcharnock wrote: post #134

Up until a year ago I was regularly using a Massy Fergusson 135 [0] (Perkins Diesel version), made sometime in the 1970s. It was wonderful! So amazing to drive and use. Clunky and heavy, but you really really felt like you were using a machine. In low gears, if you put you foot down on the accelerator the engine would roar, and your speed would barely change! And there was no fancy technology in it at all. If I was i…

> no fancy technology in it at all It's amazing we can use huge machinery with internal combustion engines and declare it "no fancy technology"

An internal combustion engine may be complex, but it's not fancy. I can see and touch and understand every part of it. I can maintain and modify and repair it. This is not true for fancy electronics and certainly not locked-down proprietary firmware.

Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

#172

Post by markus_zhang » Wed, Apr 22, 2026, 6:37 PM UTC

gf263 wrote: post #158

markus_zhang wrote: post #90

That's what I always want -- all of my appliances should look like the ones we got in the 90s/2000s. Some Chinese companies should take this niche or maybe not-niche field, sell at a premium, which hopefully is still cheaper than smart ones.

Using my friends Speed Queen washer/dryer was such a revelation. I hate my Samsung washer/dryer.

I bought a LG one back in 2018 and so far it's working fine. I hope it can last more than 10 years.

Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

#173

Post by uticus » Wed, Apr 22, 2026, 6:37 PM UTC

> The farm equipment industry spent 20 years adding complexity and cost. Ursa Ag is wagering that a significant number of farmers never wanted any of it.

Nice tag line but not a complete picture. The "significant number of farmers" in terms of actual market spend driving the equipment industry is not mom-and-pop outfits but rather agri-industrial complexes with machines to match. What they want is (1) availability and (2) ROI. For (1), that is first and foremost subject to legal stipulations like EPA etc, then secondly subject to production availability. For (2), electronics are the name of the game if you are looking to turn a profit with farming because counting every seed, measuring every drop of chem, and tracking every inch of plotted ground leads to better ROI.

Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

#174

Post by dylan604 » Wed, Apr 22, 2026, 6:37 PM UTC

kube-system wrote: post #146

tempest_ wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of options for putting auto steer on a dumb tractor already exist.

Cheap ones too -- aliexpress has them. But there's more to agtech than driving a tractor around, a lot of what these big integrated systems do (at the high end) is very data driven -- determining where and how to plant, irrigate, fertilize, etc. There's a lot of integration work beyond just making the tractor drive.

Right, but that has nothing to do with a vendor making a dumb tractor. Why do we need to dismissively move the conversation from TFA. The data driven approach is made up of several parts, and we're looking at a specific part

Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

#175

Post by jagged-chisel » Wed, Apr 22, 2026, 6:37 PM UTC

slopinthebag wrote: post #120

red-iron-pine wrote: post #26

Danielle Smith never met a corporate shill she could say no to I predict 6 months before John Deer gets the Alberta UCP on the line and gets a law passed that bans "unsafe tractors" (or the like)

[flagged]

Where’s the sexism in the comment?

Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

#176

Post by MisterTea » Wed, Apr 22, 2026, 6:38 PM UTC

kube-system wrote: post #146

tempest_ wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of options for putting auto steer on a dumb tractor already exist.

Cheap ones too -- aliexpress has them. But there's more to agtech than driving a tractor around, a lot of what these big integrated systems do (at the high end) is very data driven -- determining where and how to plant, irrigate, fertilize, etc. There's a lot of integration work beyond just making the tractor drive.

> But there's more to agtech than driving a tractor around, a lot of what these big integrated systems do (at the high end) is very data driven -- determining where and how to plant, irrigate, fertilize, etc.

How difficult is this to implement outside of big ag-tech? I feel that a community of experienced farmers and programmers (or programmer-farmers) could tackle this.

Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

#177

Post by intrikate » Wed, Apr 22, 2026, 6:38 PM UTC

eaf7e281 wrote: post #92

gigatexal wrote: post #84

I wish someone would do something similar for TVs. Just a really fantastic panel with only the tech needed to decode HDMI or whatever and show it on the screen. No other tech whatsover: no telemetry, no smart anything, nothing.

Are you looking for a monitor? xD

No. Monitors are small, and suited for one person working close up. I am looking for a television without the "computer" inside of it.

Yes, of course, it needs to have a computer to decode and display images, but I don't want it to be running a stripped back version of Android, that shipped out of date and hasn't received any updates, with apps that are laggy and often not current relative to other "smart" providers, that also takes pictures of my screen once every thirty seconds to tell the manufacturer what I'm watching and for how long, to build a better marketing profile on me.

I want a big OLED panel with enough smarts to drive the screen. I will plug my own computer into the television, if the need should arise.

Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

#178

Post by rolph » Wed, Apr 22, 2026, 6:39 PM UTC

tonyarkles wrote: post #130

AngryData wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still got a farmall 230, super easy to fix and maintain and works perfect for my small bit of land. An electric starter addon is really nice for winter starts though instead of killing your arm.

While I’m not at all surprised that they’re still running, I am a little surprised at how many Farm-all owners are on HN. Farm-all H owner checking in :)

the 5-speed is nice, good consistent pull, had it power plumeing in a seldge pull contest, its rare that i call on it to do that much work.

Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

#179

Post by uticus » Wed, Apr 22, 2026, 6:39 PM UTC

stackskipton wrote: post #48

Hasz wrote: post #20

I think this is a reaction to the incredibly locked down ecosystem that most of these mfgs are pushing. However, the tech exists for a reason and is not inherently bad, the issue is the lock-in, the lack of choice and interoperability. IMO, there is plenty of space for an OEM who can play nice with others, offer an open (and vibrant ecosystem), and keep users coming back by choice, not by lock-in.

OEM can change their mind at any moment and there is always going to be an MBA rubbing their hands together thinking about all the money that can be made. This needs to be solved at government level with right to repair laws and requirement for open standards instead of believing in magic of "free market".

> instead of believing in magic of "free market"

It looks like magic because it works like magic. Surprisingly it is also possible to believe in the magic of "government intervention" though it looks less like magic and more like unintended consequences.

Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

#180

Post by palmotea » Wed, Apr 22, 2026, 6:39 PM UTC

Hasz wrote: post #20

I think this is a reaction to the incredibly locked down ecosystem that most of these mfgs are pushing. However, the tech exists for a reason and is not inherently bad, the issue is the lock-in, the lack of choice and interoperability. IMO, there is plenty of space for an OEM who can play nice with others, offer an open (and vibrant ecosystem), and keep users coming back by choice, not by lock-in.

> However, the tech exists for a reason and is not inherently bad, the issue is the lock-in, the lack of choice and interoperability.

The problem is computers and software enable lock-in, because of their flexibility and communications capability. Get rid of them, and you make lock-in much more difficult (or even impossible if you use "standard" parts).

Also, computers and software are complex, and that complexity is not physically visible. If you want something you can completely understand, it's probably a good choice to simplify by cutting them out completely.