Special centenary display at the annual Derg Valley Vintage Rally

The rally always puts on special displays and in 2025 the special displays included the centenary of the Ferguson Master Patent. 60 years of Ford 1000 series tractors and 40 years of Case International tractors.

Stationary engines and machinery, a wide range of classic and vintage cars, motor cycles and tractors were on display. The ever popular dog show, different stalls and live music by Wee Tom all gave the rally something for everyone to enjoy attracting large crowds all for a very worthy charitable cause which this year is Care for Cancer.

I was honoured to organise the special display to mark the centenary of the modern tractor thanks to Harry Ferguson and his 1925 Ferguson Master Patent that included a range of Ferguson and Massey Ferguson tractors.

The display included two Ferguson-Brown Type As from 1936, the first production tractor with Ferguson System. Ford-Ferguson tractors, the world’s first mass produced Ferguson System tractor that played a crucial role in keeping the nation fed during the Second World War.

Restored and original examples of Ferguson TE20 tractors built by the Standard Motor Company of England from 1946 for Harry Ferguson. Ferguson FE35 tractors that replaced the Ferguson TE20 in 1956 and Massey Ferguson tractors from the name and colour change to red and grey in November, 1957 to honour Daniel Massey and Harry Ferguson.

Massey Ferguson 100 series with favourites like the ever popular 135 and right up to the latest 2025 Massey Ferguson 5M 115 tractor just off the production line that was displayed by William Bell Tractors. The Massey Ferguson 5M Series is the winner of the prestigious Red Dot Design Award for 2025.

Together with the impressive display of tractors, the display included the Ferguson Master Patent Centenary Plaque, the 85th anniversary plaque of a special plaque/money clip Harry Ferguson presented to Henry Ford in May, 1940. The Ferguson System Demonstrator built by William Sands from the first Ford-Ferguson to arrive in Northern Ireland and first used by Harry Ferguson on the 10th January, 1940 at Stormont to promote Northern Ireland’s plough for victory campaign.

Display boards told the story of the Ferguson Master Patent or to give its full title “Apparatus for Coupling Agricultural Implements to Tractors and Automatically Regulating the Depth of Work.” The patent is such an important part of the development of the tractor in general and did indeed as intended by Harry Ferguson revolutionise agriculture.

The 1925 patent filed on the 12th February, 1925 at Belfast included 15 different diagrams and 12A4 pages of text to explain his inventions. These ideas and inventions have to be amongst the greatest ever recorded the leap forward in technology was that great. In them Harry Ferguson invented the tractor with quickly interchangeable implements acting as a single unit with automatic depth control.

This meant the tractor did not simply replace the horse to pull a plough, but be a mechanised farming solution, a solution that continues to feed the world right to the present day. In the patent he states how it can be done using mechanical, electrical, fluid, or torque reaction. In the end settling on hydraulics.

In 1925 it might only have been duplex or two point linkage, three point linkage came later, however it’s the principle that matters and today the latest tractor just off the production line uses Ferguson based technology as pioneered in 1925. Harry Ferguson not just invented the modern tractor in 1925 for which he is best remembered, but he and his team of engineers from Northern Ireland then began a process to invent and develop a range of dedicated implements, a big undertaking just on its own.

A century later it’s amazing to see innovators designing the latest state-of-art tractors and implements across the globe still quoting the Ferguson Master Patent by Harry Ferguson.

Thanks to Ferguson and his engineers, Northern Ireland has the right to say our country gifted the modern tractor to the world, is that not something very special and rightly deserving to proudly boast upon. That is why I continue to campaign for a Harry Ferguson Museum of Innovation to honour his legacy for humanity, and all the other great innovators and achievers Northern Ireland has produced, past, present and future.

This year also marks the 35th anniversary of AGCO that was established on the 20th June, 1990 when the company Gleaner-Allis Corporation changed name to Allis-Gleaner Corporation, or AGCO. AGCO would purchase Massey Ferguson in 1993-1994 and a range of other tractor brands over the years making it one of the major tractor and machinery manufacturers in the world.

I want to personally thank all those who brought tractors along for the centenary display, some owners traveling from the birth County of Harry Ferguson in County Down or further afield to be part of the display which did Harry Ferguson proud.