A half-dozen years before I concentrated my ag journalism career on no-till, I edited Massey-Ferguson’s 6-times-a-year Farm Profit magazine that circulated to 400,000 U.S. growers. 

This memory came up with the recent news that a western Canadian startup company (Ursa Ag) is building tractors with very little technology — selling them for half the price of today’s more advanced tractors.

At first glance, this looks like a backward move, as today’s tractor industry is rapidly moving towards autonomy, artificial intelligence, precision ag, connected machines and much more centered around the latest available technology.

Yet there’s likely a place for both options. Some growers wanting fully autonomous, data-driven tractors. Others prefer simple, reliable tractors with little or no technology or right-to-repair concerns.

Massey-Ferguson’s 135

Looking back at my earlier days as an ag journalist, Massey-Ferguson introduced new tractor styles and power in 1965. At that time, the company was launching a new look, offering more horsepower, better fuel efficiency and improved performance in a fresh lineup. This was their first major overhaul since World War II.

Still manufactured today, the still-used basic design for the Massey-Ferguson 135 tractor goes back more than 70 years.

Fast forward 25 years to the mid-1970s when I stopped at the Farm Progress Show exhibit of an unknown Asian tractor manufacturer. This exhibit had caught my eye because the single-displayed tractor appeared to be a “dead ringer” for the Massey-Ferguson 135 launched in the mid-1960s. 

My eyes weren’t deceiving me — a closer look led me to realize the tractor had the same look, same style, same features and same horsepower as the one introduced 25 years earlier.

Sharing my thinking with the representative working in the exhibit, he said my assumption was 100% correct. He revealed that the Asians had simply copied the entire tractor — nothing was different except the company logo. 

Plus, There Were Others

Veteran farm equipment dealer Tim Brannon recently told me many tractors built in Asia and behind the iron curtain were based on the 135 Massey-Ferguson tractor lineup that ranged from the 135 (45 hp) up to the 165 (56 hp).

Tim, who operates  B & G Equipment in Paris, Tenn., and is a contributor to our Rural Lifestyle Dealer publication, says there were other Massey-Ferguson tractor “copycats.” They included EBRO in Spain, Yugoslavia had IMT (which AGCO shut down that was a reverse-engineered metric unit), Ursis in Poland and TAFE in India.

Even former Libya leader Muammar Gaddafi had his own tractor line, likely based on tractors from AGCO. Having ruled as a Middle Eastern tyrant for more than four decades, Gaddafi was ousted by a revolt and killed in 2011 by rebel forces. That was the end of the Gaddafi tractor brand.

The Tractor That Won’t Die

Tim says the 135 Massey story refuses to go away. Possibly the most popular tractor on earth, the 135-tractor design has outlived company after company.

 “What started out as the Massey-Ferguson 35 and 65 tractors in the mid-1960 still features  the same basic powertrain being built today by TAFE,” he says. “I don’t know of any other tractor used today based on parts designed in the 1950s.” 

In fact, the Massey-Ferguson 35 tractor is still built in Kenya for the African market 70 years after its introduction.

The Massey-Ferguson 35 debuted in late 1956 as a successor to the Ferguson FE35/TO-35. The larger Massey-Ferguson 65 was introduced in 1958. 

Promoted as being iconic, durable and globally popular, both tractors were manufactured by the newly merged Massey-Ferguson company in Great Britain’s Coventry and Michigan’s Detroit plants. 

Launched in 1958 as the successor to the Ferguson TE20, the Massey-Ferguson 35 hailed back to the Massey-Harris merger. It was rebranded as the Massey Ferguson 35 in late 1957 and manufactured through 1964. Featuring the widely-acclaimed Harry Ferguson three-point hitch system, the highly-reliable Perkins 3-cylinder diesel engine and high versatility, the new version featured a red, white and grey color scheme. 

The Massey-Ferguson 65 was introduced in 1957 to complement the 35 as a larger, more powerful alternative for bigger-acreage farms. It was built through 1964 in the United Kingdom, U.S., Brazil and Yugoslavia before being replaced by the 165.  

The 135 and 165 tractors were launched in December 1964 at the Smithfield Show in London. Production began in 1965 with both models remaining in production until the mid-1970s.

TAFE, the Biggest “Copycat”

TAFE  has likely done more “copycat” tractor manufacturing than any other company.

“When we started selling TAFE tractors, which were the old Coventry units built in India, we ran into parts issues,” Tim recalls. “Our Massey service rep told us to order part number “XYZ” to get us going. 

“When I asked why, he explained that Massey-Ferguson had agreed to buy parts from TAFE. Massey duplicated the part number and were forced to stock the same part under two different part numbers to be contract compliant.” 

Tim also recalls former AGCO vice president James Seaver stating the firm was spending a fortune in legal fees trying to shut down worldwide part counterfeiters. In fact, AGCO learned their own United Kingdom plant was shipping parts without permission for use in copied tractors.   

In recent years, AGCO  has dropped the older-designed Massey-Ferguson tractors built by TAFE and is now buying units from Deutz to fill the gap. So TAFE is no longer selling the same tractors to Massey-Ferguson dealers that they sold by the thousands with the same color and sheet metal style, but were simply decaled as TAFE tractors and sold at a lesser price.

New Player Coming?

While TAFE in recent years has been trying to sell their branded tractors to Massey-Ferguson dealers, industry rumors indicate the India-based company is gearing up to start their own dealer network throughout North America. This is no easy task as TAFE must not only design, build and market a new line of tractors, but also build out parts, service, accounting, sales, assembly centers, sales and technician  training programs along with investing in other key needs. These are costly behind-the-scene needs that many customers don’t realize must exist. 

While TAFE is not yet marketing tractors in North America, stay tuned as this expansion is apparently underway.