In February of 2008, Clint Hostler, a FFA member at Northwest High School in Grand Island, Nebraska wore a shirt that said “Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Red Tractors.” The occasion was a FFA week event where FFA members drove their tractors to school. Clint appears to be a John Deere man and was poking fun at his fellow students who drove red tractors.
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Figure 1. Article about FFA members driving their tractors to school during FFA week. From the Grand Island (NE) Independent, February 22, 2008.
A very common activity to celebrate FFA week is for FFA members to drive tractors to school. The Nebraska FFA Facebook page has dozen of photos from various schools where the members drove their tractors to school this year. And it is good hearted humor for students to advocate for their favorite color of tractor.
Last week we learned about the Nebraska Tractor Test Laboratory. In this week’s Footnote we will explore some of the history of Nebraska FFA members with tractors.
Tractor Safety
In 1985 the National Safety Council estimated there were 500-600 tractor fatalities a year. In response the national FFA launched a safety campaign in the Spring of 1986 titled “Brand’em to Save a Life.” The focus was on older tractors; those manufactured prior to 1970. International Harvester and J. I. Case worked with the FFA on the campaign.
According to the National Safety Council the three major causes of tractor fatalities were overturns, runovers, and power take off entanglements. The older tractors did not have the safety features the more modern tractors had. FFA members placed decals on the older tractors alerting the tractor operator to be safe. The Lakeview FFA was one of the Nebraska chapters placing decals on the older tractors.
Figure 2. The Lakeview FFA focuses on Tractor Safety. From The Columbus (NE) Dispatch, September 24. 1986.
However, the 1986 FFA emphasis on tractor safety wasn’t something new in Nebraska. Back in 1961 the Lewiston FFA members prepared a tractor safety demonstration for a district FFA demonstration contest. The two students who developed the demonstration used a toy tractor and items from an erector set. They won a blue ribbon in district competition and were available to speak to various community groups about tractor safety (See Figure 3).
Figure 3, From the Beatrice Daily Sun, March 22, 1961.
Tractor Driving
FFA tractor driving contests in Nebraska date back to the 1940s. Over the years local chapters have had such contests as did county fairs. Eventually tractor driving became a district and regional FFA contest with the winner going to the state fair to compete in the state contest.
While driving a tractor may sound simple, the contest rules are more complex. The Kearny, Nebraska Hub newspaper published the following rules for the county fair FFA tractor driving contest in 1952 (August 20):
- Every contestant in the contest will be required to drive the tractor provided for the purpose. The area will be marked with a series of flag stakes between which a three section harrow must be pulled and a two-wheeled machinery trailer must be backed.
- Not only skill to maneuver the machines through the stakes without knocking them over, but the time element will also be considered. The FFA boy who can do this in the lest amount of time and knock over the least number of stakes will be declared the winner.
At the state level, the contestants in addition to the timed driving skills, must take a tractor safety exam. perform a tractor safety inspection, and identify numerous tractor parts. In 2000 Matt Quiring of the Heartland FFA won the state contest (See Figure 4).
Figure 4. York (NE) News-Times. August 24, 2000.
Tractor Pulls
Nebraska FFA chapters have sponsored a variety of tractor pulling contests over the years. The Heartland FFA sponsors a pedal tractor pull for kids aged 4-12 at the Henderson community days event. Winners get to compete at the kids’ tractor pull at the state fair.
Figure 5. from the York (NE) News-Times, July 14, 2022.
The Schuyler FFA held its first Antique Tractor Pull in 2001. This event involved many FFA members and alumni and had major community support. The plan was to repeat the event every year. Other Nebraska FFA chapters who have sponsored tractor pulls include Alliance, Ord, Ansley, Lyman, and Gering,
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Figure 6. From The Schuyler Sun, June 19, 2001.
I am not sure what a backwards tractor pull is, but the Alliance FFA sponsored such an event in 2009. The winning team with a time of 12:81 consisted of Broderick Nickens, Bryce Vaughn, Josh Tyree, Dallas Jaramillo and Tyson Navaro (Star-Herald, Scottsbluff, Nebraska, July 26, 2009). Perhaps it is an event where the students pull a tractor.
Concluding Remarks
The events described in this Footnote are not unique to Nebraska.. FFA chapters and members across the country have sponsored and participated in similar activities.
In the Jason Meadows song “Farm Girl” he sings “When I saw her do a wheelie on a John Deere tractor, I knew right then that I had to have her.“ While this might make a good song lyric, we don’t want to promote doing wheelies on tractors.
For decades agricultural educators have promoted safety around tractors (and other types of machinery and equipment). We need to continue doing that. We can’t afford to become complacent about safety on our farms and laboratories.