HARVEST SUPPORT USA UK

About Custom Harvesting

How did Custom Harvesting start?

So let’s go back in history so we can understand were Custom Harvesting on the Great Plains of the USA started.

In 1939 to 1945 WW2 was happening, so there was a very limited supply of steel.

Massey Harris had the #21 combine ready for production, but they had no means of building them due to limited supply of steel, there was also a very large labour shortage due to the war effort.

Joe Tucker, the Sales Manager of Massey Harris had developed the harvest Brigade, this would be 500 Massey Harris #21 combine to harvest the wheat from Texas to Montana.

The US Government agreed to release steal to build these combines on the understanding that each purchaser would harvest no less than 2000 acres each per machine from Texas to Montana.


So this was the birth of the Great American Harvest (2000 mile Harvest)

The largest growth and of the Great American harvest would have been from 1950 to the 1970 were there would have been over 1000 crews cutting wheat from  the South (Texas) to the North (Montana, North Dakota into Canada), each spending around a month in each state as they progressed North were cereal crop harvest would end around September.


Massey Ferguson 860 combines from the late 70’s early 80’s

Massey Harris #21 Combine.