The Long Agribusiness Farmtrac 45 is great - as long as nothing breaks

Jun 24, 2016

Memories and challenges surrounding the Farmtrac 45

IN THE SHOP with Rachel

My dad owned a tractor dealership when I was young, and one of the brands he carried was Long tractors, sold under the Farmtrac name.

Dad did a lot of research before signing up to sell these tractors, and they were great: reliable, easy to service and get parts for, and plenty of power. They were a competitive price and were made by an American company headquartered in North Carolina.

Dad was so proud to sell these tractors that he even sold them to family. Both my aunt and my grandparents purchased the Farmtrac 45 from my dad. They were very happy with their purchases.

The family dealership was sold in 2007, and things went south for Long Agribusiness that same year - resulting in a bankruptcy in 2008. Dad was reassured that Long would continue to make parts available for 7 years, but less than a month after the company’s announcement the parts dried up completely.

Ever since then, Dad (and now I join him as well) has struggled to keep the tractors he sold running. While we haven’t discovered any major mechanical problems, even routine maintenance is a big challenge when you can’t just go buy the part you need.

We’ve discovered a trick, though: the Farmtrac 45 is a near replica of the Ford 3600, and lots of parts interchange. While there isn’t enough interchangeability that I’d want to own one of these tractors, we’ve been able to muddle through and keep my grandma’s tractor running.

Not too long ago, we replaced a clutch with one from a 3600 Ford. It went right in with no problem. We’ve also replaced the ignition switch with parts from a 3600 Ford. What we haven’t been able to interchange is parts for the injection pump. However, the entire injection pump can be traded for one off a 3600 Ford. (Just not individual parts.)

I cannot recommend you buy a Farmtrac 45 (or any of the tractors produced by Long Agribusiness) - not because of their unreliability, but because of the difficulty getting parts and service. That being said, if you end up owning one, all hope is not lost. The Long Farmtrac 60 is similar to a 4600 Ford, and the Long Farmtrac 35 is similar the Ford 2600. These ones aren’t too difficult to service, since you can muddle through with parts off the Ford tractors.

Video: Western Canadian Agriculture: Hard Times Made the World's Best Farmers

Western Canadian agriculture produced the most advanced farmers in the world not through abundance but through adversity. The crow rate fell. The wheat price went nowhere. The brown envelopes stopped.

When the subsidies disappeared, the bad farmers left and the good ones stayed. And the ones who stayed could not just grow wheat anymore. They started growing lentils and canola and peas and flax and faba beans. They built crop rotation. They got serious about agronomy because there was no government backstop. That process produced the Western Canadian agriculture Dennis Bulani describes in this clip: the most advanced, most educated farming culture in the world.

His contrast with Iowa corn and soybean farmers is sharp. At a DeKalb farmer meeting in Okoboji, Iowa, he asked what crop rotation they ran. Beans on corn stubble, corn on bean stubble. How do you fertilize? The co-op agronomist handles it. Have you considered other crops? No need. We make so much money on corn and soybeans. Western Canadian agriculture was never allowed that comfort. And now those Iowa farmers are watching soybean markets lock up with China and corn prices slide, and they do not have the agronomy knowledge or the research base to pivot. Western Canadian farmers adapted on a dime because they had done it before.

Dennis also makes the case that Western Canadian agriculture keeps adapting in real time. Low commodity prices over the past year have pushed growers to look seriously at precision spot-spray technology. He knows a neighbor who bought a sprayer with the seeing-eye system and sprayed only 80 out of 320 acres. As a chemical retailer Dennis acknowledges that will affect his sales. He supports it anyway, because if it advances Canadian agriculture and makes farmers money, that is a good outcome.

The lesson Dennis draws from the tale of two farms: continuous improvement is the only durable strategy. When canola was $22 a bushel some growers went to Arizona instead of the Crop Production Show. When the price came down those same growers came back to the research and the discipline. Products do not go on Rack Petroleum's shelves unless they pass a replicated trial first. That is what Western Canadian agriculture built through hard times: farmers who do the work whether the times demand it or not.

Dennis Bulani is CEO of Rack Petroleum and Ultimate Yield in Biggar, Saskatchewan. Dan Aberhart hosts GTF Productions, Western Canadian Agriculture's foremost live briefing platform and its foremost AI training platform for ag operators