Rural Lifestyle Dealer columnist Mike Wiles, creator of AskTractorMike.com, provides a video history of tractor company acquisitions. The video could be a good training tool for new employees and a resource to share with customers.

Here's a brief intro and download this summary chart for another training tool. 

If you're shopping for a tractor on a budget, you may be looking at an older farm tractor, and the brand might not exist anymore. You could be looking at an Farmall, Minneapolis-Moline, or Hesston tractor and wonder that since they're not making those brands of tractors anymore, can you get parts for them?

In this video I'll go over the constantly evolving North American tractor market and how a dozen companies became three and who those left represent. Deere is the easy one, they've never merged, acquired or been acquired. If you want parts for a Deere tractor, go to a Deere dealer.

AGCO is a lot more complicated. A company built through acquisition, it's roots are the old Allis Chalmers company, which was bought by a German company, then sold to its Aerican management team. They have jurisdiction over Allis, AGCO-Allis, Oliver, Cockshutt, Minneapolis Moline, White, AGCO-White, Deutz Allis and Massey Ferguson tractors. Today, Massey Ferguson is the name brand and you want to go to a Massey dealer to get parts for those.

CNH is also a company assembled through acquisition. They have two brands that have separate dealer organizations, New Holland and Case IH. The two companies compete with each other and some (but not all) of their products are identical, except for the paint color. Go to the New Holland dealer for parts for the old Ford or Ford New Holland tractors, go to the Case dealer for International Harvester, Case and David Brown parts.

That's how about a dozen tractor companies became three, and where to go to get parts if you have one of the brands that no longer exists.