The history of the Massey Ferguson company begins in 1947 with the founding of the Massey implement business by Daniel Massey at Newcastle, Ontario (Canada). Massey manufactured tools and soon also produced farm equipment such as harrows, cultivators, and fanning mills. Daniel retired in 1855 and his son Hart Massey became owner of the company. -- Shortly after the creation of the Massey farm implement company, Alanson Harris purchased a factory in Beamsville, Ontario, and began manufacturing farm tools. Harris was joined by his son, John, and the business was renamed A. Harris and Son. The company slowly grew to produce a wide variety of farm equipment. -- During the next twenty years, the Massey company became known world-wide for its harvesting machines. In 1878, the renamed Massey Manufacturing Company moved its operations to Toronto. The Harris Company also made great strides and had aggressively expanded its overseas markets. By 1890, the growing success of the Harris Company prompted the two companies to talk of merger. -- The Massey-Harris Company Limited was formed in May 1891 with Hart A. Massey as president. Massey-Harris entered the U.S. market in 1893 and began operations in the U.S. in 1910 after its acquisition of Johnston Harvester Company of Batavia, New York. By World War I, the Canadian manufacturer exported nearly 60% of its farm machines and implements. -- Reaper-Threshers (combines) were first produced by Massey-Harris in 1910 for the Australian market. By 1941, the first self-propelled combine produced by Massey-Harris rolled off the assembly lines just as war restrictions were put in place on farm machinery design. War restrictions also limited the amount of steel allocated to farm implement makers, but the vice president and sales manager of Massey-Harris USA, Joe Tucker, received permission to build an extra 500 self-propelled combines. The combines were contracted to harvest one million acres of North American grain in the fall of 1944. The "Massey-Harris Self-Propelled Harvest Brigade" achieved that goal after the campaign finally ended 1500 miles north of its starting point. -- During this time another tractor innovator was gaining prominence. Harry Ferguson had reached an oral agreement with Henry Ford to produce tractors using his three-point linkage system. In 1946, the agreement was breached and Ferguson arranged to have Standard Motor Co., at Coventry, England, manufacture his tractors. In 1953, Massey-Harris acquired Harry Ferguson Limited of England and the new Massey-Harris-Ferguson Company became the second largest farm machinery company in the world. -- In 1958, the company changed its name to Massey-Ferguson Limited. The following year, Massey-Ferguson purchased the world's largest diesel engine manufacturer, F. Perkins Limited. -- The company was purchased by the U.S.-based AGCO Corporation in 1995. The hyphen was dropped from the brand name, and the current name is Massey Ferguson. As of 2005, Massey Ferguson remains one of the largest farm equipment manufacturers with over 5000 dealers operating in 140 countries worldwide.
