Clyde Hall Historic Tractors Up for Auction - September 13

Sep 10, 2024
By Jean-Paul McDonald
Assistant Editor, North American Content, Farms.com

Own a piece of history - rare antique tractors for auction

The rolling hills of Fillmore, Saskatchewan, are about to lose a unique resident – a collection of meticulously restored antique tractors. Their owner, Clyde Hall, has decided to auction his beloved machines after five decades of passionate collecting.

The online auction, ending September 13th, allows others to own a piece of history. Bids range from $1,200 for a steam tractor to over $75,000 for a prized 1912 Rumely model.

Hall's journey began with his father, who ignited a lifelong fascination with these historical workhorses.

For Hall, the value wasn't monetary; it was the engineering marvel and functionality. "They were just a particular piece," he explained in a CTV News interview. "I'd like to have it because I just like the way it worked or the way it was built." He fondly remembers conversations with his father about finding specific tractors. "I lost him [my dad] when I was 26 years old and there were a lot of times, we talked about how we should find one of them particular tractors."

Hall's dedication is evident in the numerous pieces he restored himself. His collection boasts 14 treasures, with a 1919 IHC Mogul 10-20 tractor holding a special place in his heart. "This is my favourite," he declared to CTV news. He now prefers the smaller tractors for their practicality. "It's small and easy to get on and off. Easy to start because they're all hand cranked."

At 83, Hall has decided the time has come for Hall to part ways with his collection.

The online auction, ending September 13th, allows others to own a piece of history. Bids range from $1,200 for a steam tractor to over $75,000 for a prized 1912 Rumely model.

Hall's cherished IHC Mogul currently sits at $10,000. "Even if you just park it in the weeds, eventually it will become desirable," he said, reflecting on his collecting philosophy.

Visit www.2sauctioneers.ca to discover the collection and bid on these unique pieces.

Photo Credit: 2S Auctioneers

Video: The 15-Year Bet Behind Every New Variety!

Canada is trying to decide how much agricultural research capacity it can afford to lose. Brian Rossnagel believes the better question is whether the country can afford to rebuild it.

The longtime barley and oat breeder makes the case with a simple fact about his profession: the consequences of today’s decisions may not become visible for 10 or 15 years.

“Pick the right parents. That’s the biggest thing,” Rossnagel says. “If you pick the wrong parents, you’re not going to get anywhere—and you don’t know that until 10 years, 15 years later.”

That warning carries particular weight as Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada moves to reduce spending and streamline parts of its science operations. The department’s 2026–27 plan anticipates the loss of approximately 665 positions by 2028–29 and says some research will be reduced where capacity exists in academia or industry. AAFC says the changes will make its science operations more cost-effective over the long term.

For Canada’s seed industry, Rossnagel’s career illustrates what is at stake.

This fall, the retired University of Saskatchewan breeder will be inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame. During his 35-year career at the Crop Development Centre, he helped develop more than 100 barley and oat varieties, including CDC Austenson—one of Western Canada’s most widely grown feed barleys. His induction recognizes not only those varieties, but the collaboration and research system that made them possible.

Rossnagel is quick to emphasize that none of it was the work of one person.

“The first thing I thought about was all the other people who contributed to whatever success I and my program had over the years,” he says. “We know that it’s not an individual who does this. It’s a group—a team.”

That team extends well beyond the breeder whose name appears beside a variety. It includes technicians, pathologists, quality specialists, statisticians, regional testing sites, seed growers and industry partners. It also includes the breeders who came before and those who will carry the germplasm forward.

CDC Fraser barley, for example, moved through three breeding careers. Its parents came from Brian Harvey’s program. Rossnagel advanced the material after Harvey retired, and Aaron Beattie later guided it through registration and release.

That kind of handoff is normal in plant breeding. The person who makes the original cross may never see the resulting variety reach farmers.

It also explains why lost research capacity cannot simply be switched back on when budgets improve.

“If you shut it off, it’s very, very difficult—and particularly costly—to start it up again,” Rossnagel says. “If you have to start from scratch, it’s going to be at least 10 years before anybody notices whether you’re getting anything done or not.”

The concern is not simply how many experimental lines Canada can process. Modern equipment, statistical tools and genetic technologies allow today’s breeding programs to evaluate tens of thousands of lines—far more than Rossnagel could handle when he entered the field in the early 1970s.

But efficiency and automation do not generate every idea.

“If you pare back down, and instead of having six or seven individual scientists concentrating on wheat breeding, you go down and say three people could handle all this, well, that’s half the ideas gone,” he says. “Particularly if you happen to lose the three people who had the really neat and innovative ideas, boy, that’s a problem.”

It is a timely distinction for Canadian agriculture. Consolidating programs may preserve the volume of material moving through a system, at least initially. It may not preserve the diversity of thinking, regional knowledge or willingness to pursue unconventional crosses.

That regional knowledge matters because Canadian agriculture is not one uniform production environment. A variety suited to southern Alberta may face different disease, moisture and maturity pressures than one grown in Manitoba, Ontario or Atlantic Canada.

“Agriculture is applied biology,” Rossnagel says. “Biology, all around the Earth, moves from the poles to the equator. It does not move from Newfoundland to B.C. like politics do.”