Old to New

In the 1950s, my great-grandfather made a big decision. He traded his two draft horses for an Allis-Chalmers tractor.

He farmed the same way his father and grandfather had near Scales Mound, IL until one day he took the risk to do something new. Horses were familiar, but he realized that he could not keep up with farmers using modern equipment.

You might say that selling horses in 1953 was late for most. My great-grandfather was likely a part of the late majority or even a laggard.

Don't hold it against him. Farming the same way as his grandfather reliably put food on the table since the 1830s.

He also had to overcome several barriers.

• Risk. Good horses have been reliable for centuries. Tractors were an unknown.
• This was an emotional event. Trusted horses and their owners share a deep bond. It's far beyond how we might feel about a product we 'love' today. Livestock can become like one of the family. Loading Barney and Jerry onto a trailer to send them away for good was difficult for my great-grandfather to bear.
• Learning new skills. Most farmers are functional veterinarians. They may have little formal instruction, but carry a lot of passed down knowledge and hands-on experience. Calling in a licensed vet was not something he did on a routine basis. The tractor forced him to learn to be a mechanic. With that came new processes and tools.

• Cost. $1.5k in 1953 translates to about $17k in today's dollars. That is no small amount for someone whose income primarily came from selling produce.

What was the benefit?

Production.

My grandfather told me that with horses and a single bottom plow, a farmer could plow about 2 acres on a good day.

With a tractor and a two-bottom plow, that same farmer could plow 10 acres on a good day.

A 400% increase. This enabled farmers to produce more ground.

Back then, farms weren't as big. The average farm size in 1900 was 146.2 acres. In 1950, the average farm size had increased to 215.6 acres. Up 47% over 50 years. US Census

Today, that number has almost doubled to an average of 445 acres. USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service

My own theory: Those who adapted were then able to sell surplus grain and re-invest the income into more land, education, and equipment.

Here's the point.

As I work in AEC, I see all levels of tech adoption. Actually, I'm going to stop calling it "adoption". The correct word is adaptation.

If you're still doing everything on paper, you're using draft horses. There is nothing wrong with you. It's put food on the table for a long time. Understand though, that the time will come when the market forces you to adapt or move to town.

If you're in spreadsheets + email, congratulations! You have transitioned to the first iteration of a tractor. You have a bit more time, but not much.

If you're using purpose-built SaaS and working with IoT, keep going. You understand the imperative to remove non value-add activities and make better decisions with data.

If you're transitioning to AI-enabled workflows, the time savings is real. Last week, I cut down 5 hours of work into 20 minutes using AI.

Be careful, though. I would bet that a seasoned professional using basic technology could outperform someone much younger whose thinking had become completely dependent on tech. AI has to be checked by real knowledge.

Today that tractor sits in a machine shed near Freeport, IL. It still runs after 70 years, and my 80+ year old grandfather still uses it to plow snow or drag a sprayer every now and then.

It runs because he has been consistently disciplined with maintenance and upkeep. The same goes with any tech. It's a piece of equipment.