Agricultural vehicles – feeding the world

While the first self-propelled farm vehicles were the steam-powered, plough-towing traction engines of the mid-1800s, it wasn't until 1892 that the first agricultural tractor with an internal combustion engine came along. This development was credited to Iowa, USA inventor John Froelich, who decided to employ a single-cylinder Van Duzen petrol engine when he found himself unable to obtain coal for his steam-powered machine.

From this small beginning an entire industry was spawned. With demand gathering pace in parallel to the expansion of the transport industry and important related developments such as truck-mounted mobile refrigerators, farmers around the globe clamoured for ever more efficient agricultural vehicles, the history and heritage of which form an important part of the work of FIVA's Utilitarian Commission.