Farming With One Tractor

Farming with one tractor allows beginning farmers to start with less initial investment than may have been previously thought necessary.   When most  beginning farmers start looking at a tractor for their operation, they don't always take into account all the items they need to think about when selecting a tractor.  Your tractor needs are affected by 1. Farm size; 2. Labor availability; 3. Custom service availability; 4. Crop selection; 5. Cultural practices.

Costs associated with an equipment set — the combination of tractors and related equipment used in a farming operation — include labor, timeliness and ownership costs. Labor requirements are generally greater for smaller equipment sets. Small equipment sets may also delay field operations, resulting in timeliness costs such as reduced yield or crop quality. Unnecessarily large or extensive equipment sets incur unnecessary ownership costs. An optimum equipment set is a compromise between ownership costs and costs for labor and timeliness.

The MO Beginning Farmers Program (MBFP) has two options for you to learn more about tractors and equipment.  Last summer the MBFP held a workshop last summer called Tractor 101.  There is also a Farmers Forum, a place for farmers to ask questions and get answers, on Tractors and Equipment.  Handout materials from the workshop and the Farmers Forum can be found on the MBFP's Online Learning Community (OLC).  To join the OLC go here and click on "Online Learning Community" for directions.

To learn more about tractors, read the MU Extension Guide Sheet titled "Farming With One Tractor."