Independent curation

Find farming history books you'll love

Weekly picks surfaced by readers who obsess over tractors, soil, and stories from the field.

Share your top 3 farm reads

Join fellow readers swapping must-read manuals, memoirs, and histories.

Start a list

Fresh off the shelf

Recently Added

Browse all books
Loaded 10 more books
150 Years of International Harvester (Crestline Series)
150 Years of International Harvester (Crestline Series)

International Harvester tractors, particularly the Farmall, revolutionized the farming world. Over the years, Farmall has become one of the world's most popular tractors, both for farming and collecting. Now readers can explore the history of International Harvester and the tractors they produced, all in this comprehensive reference! This incredible photo-encyclopedia provides comprehensive coverage of one of the most famous names in agricultural manufacturing. It contains over 1,900 detailed photos and complete information on every tractor, truck, hay rake and hemp machine built in the company's history. Discover the most complete International Harvester reference available!

View Details
Red 4WD Tractors 1957-2017 High-horsepower Four-wheel-drive Tractors from International Harvester, Steiger, J.I. Case & Case IH
Red 4WD Tractors 1957-2017 High-horsepower Four-wheel-drive Tractors from International Harvester, Steiger, J.I. Case & Case IH

<p>The story of the four-wheel-drive tractors built by Steiger, International Harvester, Case, and Case IH is told in dramatic fashion in this authoritative guide. Starting with the development of early four-wheel-drive systems at International Harvester, the book traces the evolution and design some of the most powerful and capable tractors of the twentieth century. With fresh detail on the 4300, 4100, Steiger-built IH tractors, and the 2+2 tractors including the Super 70 series, the book offers prototype drawings of several models--including the complete story of the never-before-published Magnum 2+2-- as well as inside stories and backroom drama that is a must for any enthusiast for farm history or tractors. <br><br>Learn the complete story of Steiger tractors, which were originally designed and built in the barn of John, Douglass, and Maurice Steiger located near Red Lake Falls, Minnesota. Containing interviews with more than 50 of the people who built Steiger from its humble origin to a world leader, the book traces the evolution of the lime green Steigers in engrossing detail. The book also covers the J.I. Case 4WD line in great detail. In addition, the book tells the story of how each of these significant players in the industry combined under one banner and--together--created one of the current industry-leading technologies, the Quadtrac. The modern evolution of the Steigers and the introduction of the STX Series (and more) also receive in-depth coverage.<br><br>The same team that created the award-winning books Red Tractors 1958-2013 and Red Combines 1915-2015 created this book, and notable new contributors include Sherry Schaefer (editor of Heritage Iron magazine) and noted historian Jim Allen. Contributors include Sherry Schaefer, Oscar H. Will III, Jim Allen, Kenneth Updike, Todd Markle, Gregg Montgomery, Guy Fay, Martin Rickatson, Sarah Tomac, Matthias Buschmann, Jean Cointe, Michael Osweiler, and Johann Dittmer.</p>

View Details
Original John Deere Letter Series Tractors, 1923-1954
Original John Deere Letter Series Tractors, 1923-1954

The 1923 Model D represented a watershed for Deere & Company insomuch as it was the implement-maker's first foray into tractor production after purchasing the Waterloo Gasoline Traction Engine Company. Ideal for those seeking authentic restorations, this marvelous color guide examines all of Deere's post-merger "Letter Series" tractors through the 1954 Model R. Each chapter features exhaustive data, color photography depicting handsomely restored tractors in evocative settings and up-close detail shots. Covers industrial tractors and crawlers, as well as agricultural models.

View Details
Farm and Ranch Safety Management
Farm and Ranch Safety Management

You canat afford even one accident! Careful planning can help avoid tragic - and costly - accidents. Why do you need this book? The answer is simple: agriculture is a hazardous industry. Farming and ranching can be uniquely rewarding occupations, but if you donat follow safe work practices they can be dangerous. According to the National Safety Council (NSC), there were an estimated 1,200 agricultural work-related deaths and 140,000 disabling work-related injuries in the United States in 1992. But you already knew farming and ranching are filled with danger. What you maybe do not know so well is what you can do about it. This book will tell you. We will tell and show you 21 ways to avoid the No. 1 fatal farm accident...and thatas just for starters. We show you very practical ways to avoid pinch points; wrapping, shearing, crushing, and pull-in hazards; thrown objects and freewheeling parts; electrical and stored energy; and much, much more. Farm and Ranch Safety Management is the definitive reference work in rural safety. This 358-page book is filled with EPA, OSHA, and other regulatory agency standards and suggested ways to meet or exceed those standards. Topics covered in simple, straightforward language include safety machine operation, handling toxic chemicals, hazardous waste disposal, and developing an overall safety management plan.

View Details
Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal War Stories from the Local Food Front
Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal War Stories from the Local Food Front

Drawing upon 40 years' experience as an ecological farmer and marketer, Joel Salatin explains with humor and passion why Americans do not have the freedom to choose the food they purchase and eat. From child labor regulations to food inspection, bureaucrats provide themselves sole discretion over what food is available in the local marketplace. Their system favors industrial, global corporate food systems and discourages community-based food commerce, resulting in homogenized selection, mediocre quality, and exposure to non-organic farming practices. Salatin's expert insight explains why local food is expensive and difficult to find and will illuminate for the reader a deeper understanding of the industrial food complex.

View Details
The Sheer Ecstasy of Being a Lunatic Farmer
The Sheer Ecstasy of Being a Lunatic Farmer

Foodies and environmentally minded folks often struggle to understand and articulate the fundamental differences between the farming and food systems they endorse and those promoted by Monsanto and friends. With visceral stories and humor from Salatin's half-century as a "lunatic" farmer, Salatin contrasts the differences on many levels: practical, spiritual, social, economic, ecological, political, and nutritional.<br><br>In today's conventional food-production paradigm, any farm that is open-sourced, compost-fertilized, pasture-based, portably-infrastructured, solar-driven, multi-speciated, heavily peopled, and soil-building must be operated by a lunatic. Modern, normal, reasonable farmers erect "No Trespassing" signs, deplete soil, worship annuals, apply petroleum-based chemicals, produce only one commodity, erect Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, and discourage young people from farming.<br><br>Anyone looking for ammunition to defend a more localized, solar-driven, diversified food system will find an entire arsenal in these pages. With wit and humor honed during countless hours working on the farm he loves, and then interacting with conventional naysayers, Salatin brings the land to life, farming to sacredness, and food to ministry.<br><br>Divided into four main sections, the first deals with principles to nurture the earth, an idea mainline farming has never really endorsed. The second section describes food and fiber production, including the notion that most farmers don't care about nutrient density or taste because all they want is shipability and volume. The third section, titled "Respect for Life," presents an apologetic for food sacredness and farming as a healing ministry. Only lunatics would want less machinery and pathogenicity. Oh, the ecstasy of not using drugs or paying bankers. How sad. The final section deals with promoting community, including the notion that more farmers would be a good thing.

View Details
John Deere Tractors
John Deere Tractors

Including more than 130 colour photographs, the story of two-cylinder tractors shows superbly restored tractors owned by enthusiasts in the United States, Britain and Canada. Some of the photographs are detailed shots showing special features. These provide a fascinating record of the design changes that took place over more than four decades of development.

View Details
Ma Vie Autour D'Une Tasse John Deere
Ma Vie Autour D'Une Tasse John Deere

"La « vieille fifure » de son ami Renaud, l'inséparable de sa princesse Flavie, la victime à sauver du directeur Guilbert, le chouchou de sa mémé Poulette, le chevalier servant des filles de l'école, le confident de monsieur Ju... S'il avait à le faire, Étienne se décrirait plutôt comme un adolescent chanceux. Chanceux d'être si bien entouré, chanceux de pouvoir faire ses propres choix malgré les difficultés, chanceux de vivre à une époque et dans un milieu où son homosexualité n'est pas une tare, chanceux d'entrer doucement dans le monde adulte, même si, parfois, ça fait peur..."-- ack cover.

View Details
Farm and Ranch Business Management
Farm and Ranch Business Management

View Details
The Field Guide to John Deere Tractors 1892-1991
The Field Guide to John Deere Tractors 1892-1991

<b>When you're "out in the field" scouting for John Deere tractors, don't forget to take along <i>The Field Guide to John Deere Tractors: 1892-1991</i>—the first-ever, full-color pocket guidebook to these popular tractors, now available in paperback format! </b><br><br> This convenient, <b>easy-to-use field guide </b>puts a wealth of information right into your hands! You'll find <b>brief histories</b>, <b>model runs</b>, <b>specification details</b>, and <b>eye-catching color photographs </b>of <b>more than 500 models</b> of John Deere tractors, from the two-cylinder series of 1892 to modern multi-cylinder models. The late Don Macmillan is considered one of the <b>world's most respected John Deere historians</b>. Inside, he breaks down John Deere's rich heritage into distinct eras: <ul><li>The Pioneering Years, 1892–1924</li><li>The Unstyled Years, 1923–1938</li><li>The Styled Years, 1938–1960</li><li>The <b>Numbered Series</b>, 1952–1960</li><li>The <b>New Generation</b> of Power, 1959–1972</li><li><b>Generation II</b>, 1972–1987</li><li>The Modern Years, 1982–1991</li></ul>A wealth of photos of every John Deere tractor—from the <b>legendary two-cylinder Waterloo Boy </b>that started it all to six-cylinder, 200-horsepower machines of the 1980s—are accompanied by <b>detail-rich descriptions </b>of the tractors' features and back stories, as well as concise charts presenting <b>key specifications</b>.  <br><br> For fans of old iron, there's no better quick reference that's equally useful at swap meets and in the armchair. 

View Details

Browse by interest

Explore Subjects

View all subjects