February 5th, 1979 Tractorcade

[IHhogfarmer]

Today is 45 years since farmers and their tractors from all over the country entered D.C to Lobby to Congress and the Carter Administration about Agriculture, poor policies, and economics at the time. Heritage Iron has a great article about the AAM Tractorcade in their January/February 2024 issue. 

I’ve been quite fascinated by the event and have been doing some research on it. I was curious if any of you were apart of the event in January/February/March 1979 or if any of you had relatives that drove a tractor, or even apart of the AAM. I’m sure many of you remember it happening if you were alive at an age old enough to remember then. I was not so I thought it would be interesting to hear any stories. 

[Drysleeves]

If you happen to be at the Smithsonian at the correct time you can see the 1486 with bald tires from the protest. It's not always on display.

[Lars (midessa)]

I remember when that occurred. Growing up during those times, just west of Madison Wi(Moscow on the Mendota), the media coverage was ‘luke warm’ at best. 

[766 Man]

  I remember that being on the evening news back then.  Farmers thought they had it bad then only to have the grain embargo hit the summer of the following year.  Rumor was that a couple of farmers from my area namely the Finger Lakes region of NY went down with their tractors to protest.  Most people were getting eaten up by high inflation and rising interest rates so the protest did not resonate very well with the public at large.  

[Littlefeller]

A friend of mine owns a 1486 that has a sticker on it (parking sticker maybe?) from being there.  He bought it from the estate of one of his older friends. 

[Big Bud guy]

22 minutes ago, 766 Man said:

  I remember that being on the evening news back then.  Farmers thought they had it bad then only to have the grain embargo hit the summer of the following year.  Rumor was that a couple of farmers from my area namely the Finger Lakes region of NY went down with their tractors to protest.  Most people were getting eaten up by high inflation and rising interest rates so the protest did not resonate very well with the public at large.  

Thought it was a dumb thing overall.  And I like how they protested with tractors that were new or almost new. 

[ChrisNY]

I remember watching it on the news and reading articles in farm journal or other magazine at the time. Don’t think anyone from our area participated in it. Mostly all dairy farms that had to stay home and take care of the animals. 

[FoxrunFarms02]

Was born in the late 80's so too young to recall anything but as I got older I heard stories and read more on the crisis. Looking at pictures I noticed the tractors were pretty new, and wondered how the farmers could just up and leave the farm or if they were struggling how could they justify fuel to drive? I recently watched a documentary on the farm crisis and they mentioned that it was bigger farmers involved and it wasn't as big as the news made it sound to be. The average Joe farmer was doing chores, looking for work or loading up their rifle..........

[Farming Enthusiast]

One thing that stuck out to me about that article is they maybe shoulda waited a couple more months because they were ravaged by snowstorms while traveling and once they got there over 2' fell. And some of the farmers used their tractors for snow removal so people could get to the hospital etc.

[axial_al]

2 hours ago, Drysleeves said:

If you happen to be at the Smithsonian at the correct time you can see the 1486 with bald tires from the protest. It's not always on display.

I saw it there in the Fall of 1987.  Also remember some farmers driving around in the reflecting pool with their tractors at the time.

[dale560]

19 minutes ago, Farming Enthusiast said:

One thing that stuck out to me about that article is they maybe shoulda waited a couple more months because they were ravaged by snowstorms while traveling and once they got there over 2' fell. And some of the farmers used their tractors for snow removal so people could get to the hospital etc.

There is a picture of a jd 4wd with a dozer blade plowing a major street around the dc area. 

[FarmerFixEmUp]

1 hour ago, Big Bud guy said:

Thought it was a dumb thing overall.  And I like how they protested with tractors that were new or almost new. 

Like they're doing now in Europe. 

[dale560]

You have to remember the good times of the early 70s were ending and high inflation was gripping everything. You younger guys don’t remember the farm bills from before. Forced set aside acres and li its on base acre crops. If you had money to stay out of the farm program you could do whatever you pleased. But at that time most lending institutions was a requirement signing up for farm program. This was so you could get crop insurance and at that time a pretty fair payment. The freedom to farm act in the 90s really opened up big time farming. Get rid of livestock and plant what you want.

[IHhogfarmer]

2 hours ago, FoxrunFarms02 said:

Was born in the late 80's so too young to recall anything but as I got older I heard stories and read more on the crisis. Looking at pictures I noticed the tractors were pretty new, and wondered how the farmers could just up and leave the farm or if they were struggling how could they justify fuel to drive? I recently watched a documentary on the farm crisis and they mentioned that it was bigger farmers involved and it wasn't as big as the news made it sound to be. The average Joe farmer was doing chores, looking for work or loading up their rifle..........

Was it the documentary from PBS? We watched it in a farm and ranch management class I took a couple years ago. Just watched it again this weekend. I think it’s a good source of info. 

 

3 hours ago, Big Bud guy said:

Thought it was a dumb thing overall.  And I like how they protested with tractors that were new or almost new. 

If you look at pictures from google you notice some 40 series JD’s. They would have only been a year old if that during February 1979. 

[Big Bud guy]

7 minutes ago, IHhogfarmer said:

 

If you look at pictures from google you notice some 40 series JD’s. They would have only been a year old if that during February 1979. 

Yes.  Even the oldest 30 series would have been 6-7 years old which is still new in my book .  I think there are some 86 series as well???  We didn't have a leg to stand on protesting.  We bought a Versatile 950 March of 79'.

[IHhogfarmer]

44 minutes ago, Big Bud guy said:

Yes.  Even the oldest 30 series would have been 6-7 years old which is still new in my book .  I think there are some 86 series as well???  We didn't have a leg to stand on protesting.  We bought a Versatile 950 March of 79'.

LOTS of 86 Series tractors. I even found one of an 86 series 4wd. 

There will be a Part II article in Heritage Iron in the March/April Issue. At the end of Part I they said there was a guy that drove a JD G 1800 miles. Now that is a LONG drive! 

[IHhogfarmer]

Since going to college in the Texas Panhandle, I went south this last November with a college friend where his family farms cotton. So I got to see cotton harvest for the first time. In Lubbock, Texas the FiberMax Museum has a display of the Tractorcade. They have the original 1486 driven by the AAM Wagon-master who was from Hereford Tx. It is in fact the original after doing some research on it. If you ever get a chance and go through Lubbock it’s a great Ag Museum!

 

[F-301066460puller]

2 hours ago, dale560 said:

You have to remember the good times of the early 70s were ending and high inflation was gripping everything. You younger guys don’t remember the farm bills from before. Forced set aside acres and li its on base acre crops. If you had money to stay out of the farm program you could do whatever you pleased. But at that time most lending institutions was a requirement signing up for farm program. This was so you could get crop insurance and at that time a pretty fair payment. The freedom to farm act in the 90s really opened up big time farming. Get rid of livestock and plant what you want.

I mowed some set aside acres as a kid with the neighbors Super C with a fh sickle bar mower and dad had his 350 diesel utility with a fh and a 100 sickle bar mower. Wish he still had the 350 diesel utility.

[Big Bud guy]

21 minutes ago, IHhogfarmer said:

LOTS of 86 Series tractors. I even found one of an 86 series 4wd. 

There will be a Part II article in Heritage Iron in the March/April Issue. At the end of Part I they said there was a guy that drove a JD G 1800 miles. Now that is a LONG drive! 

 

Looking at this pic I wasn't aware JD and IH sponsored the tractorcade unless it was just local dealers sponsoring their customers.  Looks like a 30 or 40 series 4x4 too behind the IH.  30 series 4 wheel drives came out in the fall of 74'.  Hate to say it but I don't know how anybody can feel sympathy for someone able to afford one of those 

[Big Bud guy]

2 hours ago, dale560 said:

You have to remember the good times of the early 70s were ending and high inflation was gripping everything. You younger guys don’t remember the farm bills from before. Forced set aside acres and li its on base acre crops. If you had money to stay out of the farm program you could do whatever you pleased. But at that time most lending institutions was a requirement signing up for farm program. This was so you could get crop insurance and at that time a pretty fair payment. The freedom to farm act in the 90s really opened up big time farming. Get rid of livestock and plant what you want.

The lean years didn't start for us and this area until 83-84'.  Interest rates were high but if I remember right we were selling wheat for $4 in the early 80s.  My JD dealer doubled their sales in 80 and 81'.  On set aside acres what some people did was leave some of the fields idle that were suppose to be seeded but seed the last years fields or recrop and hope for a wet year.  So basically double dip.  

[FoxrunFarms02]

1 hour ago, IHhogfarmer said:

Was it the documentary from PBS? We watched it in a farm and ranch management class I took a couple years ago. Just watched it again this weekend. I think it’s a good source of info. 

 

If you look at pictures from google you notice some 40 series JD’s. They would have only been a year old if that during February 1979. 

Yeah. I beleive Iowa pbs? It was like an 8 part series on YouTube. They interviewed 4 or 5 families. I think they really did a nice job on it.

[Rusty_Farmer]

Farmer friend I helped during my wrenching years , did the local protest. He drove a jd 4430 and I drove his 4030. Both had cabs and the the day was long and cold. Felt bad for the guys that drove fender only tractors. Some had heat housers. Made the local tv news as about 300 tractors were involved. Most people had no clue to why the parade?

[FoxrunFarms02]

46 minutes ago, IHhogfarmer said:

LOTS of 86 Series tractors. I even found one of an 86 series 4wd. 

There will be a Part II article in Heritage Iron in the March/April Issue. At the end of Part I they said there was a guy that drove a JD G 1800 miles. Now that is a LONG drive! 

Driving my b 5 miles up the road was a long enough haul for me.

here's a popper that didn't make it back. 

Sadly an H too.

[IHhogfarmer]

37 minutes ago, Big Bud guy said:

Looking at this pic I wasn't aware JD and IH sponsored the tractorcade unless it was just local dealers sponsoring their customers.  Looks like a 30 or 40 series 4x4 too behind the IH.  30 series 4 wheel drives came out in the fall of 74'.  Hate to say it but I don't know how anybody can feel sympathy for someone able to afford one of those 

My thoughts were the same. Those were quite the tractors to have for the time. Even if those were early production models would it have been early enough in the 70’s for the bank to still be willing to borrow to the farmer before everything went south? If that makes sense what I’m asking. 

[IHhogfarmer]

32 minutes ago, FoxrunFarms02 said:

Yeah. I beleive Iowa pbs? It was like an 8 part series on YouTube. They interviewed 4 or 5 families. I think they really did a nice job on it.

Yea this one I found and it was a hour and a half. It was probably done in the 2008-2010 timeframe. 

22 minutes ago, FoxrunFarms02 said:

Driving my b 5 miles up the road was a long enough haul for me.

here's a popper that didn't make it back. 

Sadly an H too.

Happy, TX is only 20 minutes from where I’m going to school. 

I wonder why the purpose of the burning tractors was?