While many in the agriculture industry are familiar with Massey Ferguson tractors and parts, they may not know the history of the company. The company had its beginnings way back in 1847, in Ontario, Canada, when Daniel Massey created the Newcastle Foundry and Machine Manufactory.
Daniel Massey’s fledgling company made some of the first mechanical threshers in the entire world. At first, they used parts imported from the United States, but eventually, the company built equipment using its own parts. Today, Massey Ferguson tractor parts are once again manufactured in the United States.
Daniel’s eldest son Harry Massey, renamed the company the Massey Manufacturing Co. and moved it to Toronto in 1879. Massey Manufacturing Co quickly became one of the city’s biggest employers. They had a huge campus of factories covering more than 11-acres. The company continued to grow, and began selling its agricultural equipment around the world. Massey’s extensive advertising campaigns quickly made the company one of the best-known brands of mechanized farm equipment across the globe.
In 1953 the company merged with the Ferguson Company, also manufacturers of farming equipment in Northern Ireland. Until 1988, Massey Ferguson was based in Brantford, Ontario. Today, Massey Ferguson Limited is an American company, headquartered in Duluth, Georgia. The factory in Jackson, Minnesota produces and distributes a huge variety of Massey Ferguson tractor parts, which are marketed all over the world. Massey Ferguson proves that if you can meet a need, such as mechanized farming, you can create a successful company.
