The first farm tractor arrived in New Zealand in May 1904, however it was decades before farmers retired their horses and accepted that mechanical machines were here to stay. The story of the evolution of this essential part in New Zealand's history is told in chapter decades from the first primitive single cylinder engines to today's sophisticated workhorses. With no tractor manufacturing industry in the country New Zealand's tractors have been imported from around the world. Starting with the American Kinnard Haines Flour City and the British Ivel imported machines have come from Italy, Germany, France, Sweden, Finland, Canada, Japan, Korea, China and Australia.
This is a story not only of farming history but also of New Zealand's social and economic ups and downs.
