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Editor's Note: The 2021 National Farm Machinery Show has been canceled. The event is now scheduled to be held February 16-19, 2022.
The 56th National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, Kentucky, will look a bit different in 2021. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the trade show and tractor pull have been postponed from February to March 31-April 3, 2021. Arrangements are in progress to allow for both in-person and virtual attendance.
The show is held at the Kentucky Exposition Center and features 1.2 million square feet of exhibit space. Its estimated that the show brought an economic impact of $23.8 million to the Louisville area in 2020.
What began in 1963 as an electricity demonstration and exhibit in Lexington, Kentucky, quickly gained momentum. By 1966, the then named Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center started the National Farm Machinery Show. Since the start, farmers have come to the event each year to stay current with innovative technology and equipment from brands they trust.
For many farm families, kicking tires and meeting friends at the National Farm Machinery Show have been traditions. Machinery companies are known to debut their newest equipment and technology at the show.
Here’s a look back on National Farm Machinery Show in years past:
In addition to 860 booths featuring equipment and services, farmers who attended the 2020 National Farm Machinery Show could take advantage of 24 free seminars covering topics such as marketing and drones.
First thing when the 2020 show opened, Great Plains introduced its new BD7600 Box Drill
AGCO highlighted its Gleaner S97 for hemp harvesting at its 2020 National Farm Machinery Show booth.
There was lots of new green equipment on the trade show floor in 2020. John Deere introduced the 1745 MaxEmerge 5 planter, ExactRate, and the 4M Heavy Duty compact tractor.
Case IH focused on tractors in 2020. The new Vestrum series was designed for the premium market while three new models of Farmall Utility A tractors are geared to the economy buyers.
Gregg Sauder was on hand at the 2020 event giving several presentations a day at the 360 Yield booth. Demonstrations of many of the company’s latest innovations were on display.
Kubota brought new compact tractors to the market in 2020.
New Holland focused on livestock producers and acreage owners with their 2020 announcements.
JCB also had livestock folks in mind when they chose to highlight the 542-70 AGRI Super Loadall in 2020.
Horsch introduced its Maestro SV planter at the 2020 National Farm Machinery Show.
Kinze’s bright blue 4705 planter caught farmers’ attention. The new 24-row, 30-inch configuration was designed with simple maintenance, improved performance, and reduced cost of ownership in mind.
Look back on additional highlights from Grasshopper, Bobcat, and Unverferth in this article.
In 2019, more than 300,000 visitors walked the show grounds as 890 exhibitors showed off their latest planting and seeding technology, irrigation, tires and tracks, tools, harvesting equipment, and tractors.
The Case IH AFS Connect Magnum tractor series and the Genesis T8 series tractor with PLM Intelligence from New Holland caught farmers’ attention with flashy introductions.
The National Farm Machinery Show boasted a record number of new exhibitors and exhibit sales in 2018. 920 booths filled 1.3 million sqaure feet. More than 314,000 people attended the four-day event.
Kubota expanded its UTV line to offer a gas model in 2018. The new RTV-XG850 Sidekick was on display at National Farm Machinery Show and was highlighted as the fastest vehicle in Kubota’s portfolio, ready to take on work around the farm or in the backwoods.
Nine big product introductions wowed farmers in 2017.
Watch the highlights here.
In 2016, the National Farm Machinery Show was ranked sixth in attendance for the Top 10 Largest U.S. Trade Shows. More than 300,000 people came to the event to take in 880 booths, 15 free seminars, and the Championship Tractor Pull.
These 12 pieces of farm equipment made headlines after the National Farm Machinery Show in 2016.
Great Plains AccuShot delivers a premeasured dose of liquid fertilizer each time a seed drops.
Case IH and New Holland, both a part of CNH Industrial, announced they would be the first original equipment manufacturers to offer a proprietary cellular RTK correction network.
The Case IH 2000 Series Early Riser Planter was introduced and built with heavy-duty cast components and a rugged row unit, which will allowed planting at speeds up 10 mph.
AGCO introduced the new White Planters 9800VE series.
Although John Deere had recently purchased Precision Planting, the company wasn’t highlighting any Precision Planting products in its booth. Instead, Deere focused on its own planter technology and gave a glimpse of a new planter configuration: MaxEmerge 5e.
Kinze also had a new planter to show off in 2016. They hoped to hit the sweet spot with a middle-ground planter – with some advanced technology features, but at a lower price than the decked-out version.
Dawn Biologic introduced two new products to assist with cover crop planting.
Fendt’s 1000 series tractors, available for the first time in the North American market, pair up the Vario transmission with a drivetrain that uses hydrostatic-mechanical power splitting.
Dawn Equipment announced plans to offer a complete strip-till toolbar with its Pluribus strip-till units and a fertilizer application system for the first time at the 2016 show.
Farmers in Europe have used tire inflation systems, which allow you to deflate and inflate tires with an on-board air compressor, for nearly 20 years to combat compaction. For the first time in the North American market, this option was available as a dealer-installed option on the Challenger MT900E series from AGCO.
Grain handling and drying advancements were on display from Sukup and GSI in 2016.
In 2015, a record-setting 310,589 people attended the 50th National Farm Machinery Show.
The 2015 National Farm Machinery Show was hot with new precision ag equipment. Walking the show floor, attendees could find individual nozzle control for sprayers, scouting drones, upgrades to data platforms, and new ways to integrate irrigation information into farm data.
Tillage tools from McFarlane and Summers were also new in 2015. Take a walk down memory lane with this slideshow.
Vermeer, Case IH, New Holland, and Kioti all had products for producers in the booming cattle market.
For the first time, a free app was used to help exhibitors and attendees navigate the 2014 National Farm Machinery Show. It was compatible with iPhones, Androids, and Blackberry.
A number of planting innovations were unveiled for the first time at National Farm Machinery Show in 2014. John Deere, Kinze, and Precision Planting all released new technology.
John Deere ExactEmerge planter was engineered to plant accurately at 10 mph. See its features up close in this slideshow.
Kinze displayedits multi-hybrid planter for the first time at the 2014 show after announcing the idea in December 2013.
Precision Planting also showed of their retrofittable multi-hybrid system in 2014.
The Sunflower 6631 was made available in seven new sizes this year.
A new 12-row folding corn head from Case IH called the 4412F caught farmers’ attention. The company also rolled out six new Puma tractors for the show.
New Holland also had a new 12-row folding corn head on display in 2014. It was the first time the company offered a head with these features in the U.S.
The 2013 National Farm Machinery show included these product announcements and updates:
Flash back to 2013 with this slideshow.
In 2011, Ingersoll, Rhino, and Sukup were among the companies introducing new products. Can you identify the components from the new equipment featured in this slideshow?
In 2010, Curt Davis from Krause spent time with Successful Farming to explain the planting technology the company offers. Watch the video here.
A snowstorm raging across the Corn Belt couldn’t stop the 2007 National Farm Machinery Show. Higher commodity prices had farmers in a buying mood. Flash back to 2007 with this show recap.