On The Land
4 June, 2023
'Iron horse’ Farmall celebrates centenary
FARMALL was the very first tractor introduced after the horse - released by the International Harvester Company (IHC) and, now, the company is celebrating its centenary after the first one was manufactured in Chicago in 1923.
The tractors were so popular that by 1941, Farmall had built and sold one million units. By 1974, they had sold over five million of the machines.
Third-generation Atherton Tablelands farmer Joe Trimarchi (PICTURED) is from a pioneering farming family, his son is a fourth generation farmer, and his grandson is the fifth generation.
Joe has always had Farmall tractors on the farm ever since he first started farming as they were renowned for being an extremely versatile tractor.
“They should have been called the ‘Doall’,” Joe said in acknowledgement of the contribution that they made on his farm.
He recalls how a new model was re-leased in the 1930s.“It had a spring in its seat and everyone thought that technology had gone crazy,” he said.
The first Farmall tractor to ever come to the Atherton Tablelands was the Farmall F-12 which made its first appearance in the 1930s.
Nowadays, satellite navigation with GPS systems are common in tractors and the Rotary FNQ Field Days featured a driverless “autonomous tractor” demonstration.
There appears to be no limit to the possibilities of what tractors may be able to do in the future and as Joe asks, “how far can you go?”
