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Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

wheelfront.com

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

#191

Post by bennettnate5 »

uticus wrote: post #173

> 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 an…

Fancy gains in ROI come from smart seeder/sprayer attachments and combine harvesters (a completely different piece of machinery), not from the tractor that's pulling those equipment. At best there's the ROI from less seed overlap, but plenty of GPS systems integrate well into any tractor and the gains are really marginal. I don't think tractor electronics are as important as they're hyped up to be.

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

#193

Post by 9rx »

saalweachter wrote: post #135
greedo wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should know that there are alternatives to green machines; Case, Massey Ferguson, Fendt etc.

Oh hey, do you happen to know if there's any tool incompatibility in the modern electronics? The other thing about tractors is that the three point hitches, PTOs, etc etc, have been standardized forever, so there's very little lock in in terms of, swap out your JD for and IH and away you go, so I'm curious if eg modern seed drills have any fancy tech which locks you in.

> if there's any tool incompatibility in the modern electronics?

Technically there are standards, but you know how that goes in the real world... Funnily enough, a friend bought a new tractor and planter, both from John Deere, and they weren't even compatible with each other. The tractor needed to have the cab removed to install the necessary hardware (ethernet) to be compatible with the planter.

> have been standardized forever

Hydraulic hose couplers didn't find common adoption until the mid-80s/early-90s, which is surprisingly late.

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

#195

Post by mitchell_h »

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…

> I imagine the clutch is easier on the knees these days! Modern tractors don't really have a clutch. I mean they sorta do, but it's electronic. Even on sizable consumer positioned tractors(I have a JD 5055, but it applies to almost all the JD models), there's just a lever for forward, N, and reverse. Gear shifters work MUCH MUCH better now.

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

#196

Post by contingencies »

efskap wrote: post #167
malfist wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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"

Any sufficiently mundane technology is indistinguishable from... furniture?

Nice one. Added to https://github.com/globalcitizen/taoup

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

#197

Post by greedo »

9rx wrote: post #193
saalweachter wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh hey, do you happen to know if there's any tool incompatibility in the modern electronics? The other thing about tractors is that the three point hitches, PTOs, etc etc, have been standardized forever, so there's very little lock in in terms of, swap out your JD for and IH and away you go, so I'm curious if eg modern seed drills have any fancy tech which locks you in.

> if there's any tool incompatibility in the modern electronics? Technically there are standards, but you know how that goes in the real world... Funnily enough, a friend bought a new tractor and planter, both from John Deere, and they weren't even compatible with each other. The tractor needed to have the cab removed to install the necessary hardware (ethernet) to be compatible with the planter. > have been standard…

Yeah, I hate when I go to connect something and have to dig around for a hydraulic adapter. If I was smart, I'd just spend the winter making sure everything was matching, but I'm cheap and there's always something else that seems more urgent.

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

#198

Post by ThaDood »

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…

I shamefully have some Facebook Marketplace notifications for some Massy tractors. I'd love one. I don't even have land to use them, I just think they are neat.

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

#199

Post by devilbunny »

joshstrange wrote: post #190

I don't think the issue is "smarts" in our cars/tractors/light-switches/etc but the lock-in and "authorized repair" bullshit. On the topic of Smart Home stuff (which is the only topic I'm even slightly qualified to talk about) I've heard about people wanting "dumb houses" after initially people wanting "smart houses". It's my opinion that this desire is driven mainly due to bad experiences and doing smart homes the "…

> What that means is everything I "enhance" with "smarts" should still work the old way that people are accustomed to.

Also the easiest way to achieve high WAF. I added an internet-connected (but self-hosted) garage door controller. My wife instantly got defensive about things when I said I was going to do this until I said that nothing at all that works now would change. It would add a new feature, not subtract anything. The old remotes work. The wall buttons work. It's just that you can do it from your phone, too. Been very handy, actually.

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

#200

Post by greedo »

saalweachter wrote: post #135
greedo wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should know that there are alternatives to green machines; Case, Massey Ferguson, Fendt etc.

Oh hey, do you happen to know if there's any tool incompatibility in the modern electronics? The other thing about tractors is that the three point hitches, PTOs, etc etc, have been standardized forever, so there's very little lock in in terms of, swap out your JD for and IH and away you go, so I'm curious if eg modern seed drills have any fancy tech which locks you in.

The short answer is yes... As you mentioned, the physical side is generally standardized to some degree, but everyone I know tends to just use branded gear that's known to fit. Now if you like to resurrect old gear, then you become a shade tree mechanic pretty quick. I don't think that any farmer will survive more than a few seasons without being pretty smart at just getting stuff to work...
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