Picture this — a farmer wakes up at the crack of dawn, jumps into their tractor, tries to start the vehicle, and it won’t budge. Nothing is wrong with the tractor’s mechanics, instead the issue is the vehicle’s computer receives an error code from a faulty sensor. This is a problem Ursa Ag is addressing with its no-tech tractors.
Over the years, large original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have added more digital components to their tractors and vehicles, adding functionality but raising right-to-repair and downtime concerns. Some of these digital components are directly integrated into the engine’s computer, meaning if a sensor breaks or is fault, the tractor will stop working, Doug Wilson, founder and CEO of Ursa Ag, told AgNavigator.
Ursa Ag is circumventing this issue by manufacturing tractors with minimal digital components, available in 150, 180, and 260 horsepower, with 25, 50, and 75 horsepower tractors on the way, Wilson explained. The company makes several tractor parts in-house, but primarily imports parts from Asia, he added.
“The only electronics in the tractor is for the backup cam and the radio. ... So, if that fails, you have to look out the back window and maybe sing to entertain yourself,” he joked.
Ursa Ag has already gained a fanbase in North America and plans to expand into Australia, New Zealand, and Europe in the future, Wilson explained. Ursa Ag can also sell its tractors at a lower price point compared to high-tech tractors, since the digital components are stripped out.
Ursa Ag’s “production is sold out through October, [and] it’s not going to take much more to sell out the rest of the year,” he added.
Farmers advocate for right-to-repair laws
Farmers are not just frustrated with some high-tech tractors because of machine downtime issues; they also want greater control over repairing their equipment without the need of third-party service providers.
Over the years, the right-to-repair movement has gathered steam in the agriculture industry, which has led to a number of policy changes to support farmers’ right to repair.
This year, the Trump administration made changes to diesel exhaust fluid system sensor requirement, a sensor closely associated with this shutdown issue. Shortly after, John Deere settled a right-to-repair case for $99 million and committed to providing materials for farmers to repair their own equipment, though did not admit any wrongdoing.
Elsewhere, the Australian government sought to expand right to repair laws for farmers as a hedge against geopolitical risks, as AgNavigator reported.
“Right to repair is largely an electronic issue. Farmers generally are very proficient at grabbing a wrench and fixing their own problems. Where the right to repair comes in is when the software on a tractor, or on any piece of machinery, is no longer accessible by the user. So, we definitely do not have that as part of our setup at all,” he elaborated.
Despite making low-tech tractors, Wilson is not anti-tech and sees an opportunity for providing a range of equipment to serve farmer needs.
“There is valuable technology. If you take the See & Spray technology, that’s saving a lot of chemicals being put onto fields — that’s brilliant technology. And there is a market for that. There’s a need for that,” Wilson elaborated.
He added, “What we’re really trying to do with our tractors is build a need where a farmer doesn’t need the tech to do his job, or if he has five tractors on the farm, only three of them need that tech to function. The rest would be better with no technology on them at all. That’s the gap we’re trying to fill.”
Finding success in a tough ag machinery market
Ursa Ag is finding success amid broader headwinds in the ag machinery market that has seen a downturn in recent years amid stressed farm economics around the globe. Given its scale and demand for its tractors, Ursa Ag is “well positioned to grow in what is a tough market,” Wilson noted.
“We have relatively weak commodity prices at the same time we have the highest input costs that the industry has ever seen. [Farmers] who are needing to replace equipment are looking for a way to do it without dropping $300,000 on a new tractor, so we’re positioned well on that. We’re also small enough that I don’t need to sell 10,000 tractors a year to make money,” Wilson elaborated.
Bootstrapped with C$50,000, Ursa Ag is now exploring the possibility of taking outside capital to fuel expansion, Wilson said. The company is “having a very good year from a profitability standpoint” and expects demand to remain strong, he added.
“I can see doing $100 million in business. I don’t think that that’s a big stretch in the tractor market,” he said.
