The Handshake Agreement — when Ferguson met Ford

In 1938, years of Ferguson System development met the manufacturing capacity that could carry it to farmers on a new scale.

Harry Ferguson and Henry Ford examining a Ferguson tractor linkage in 1938 — Harry Ferguson and Henry Ford examine the tractor linkage during the Dearborn demonstration in 1938.

In October 1938, Harry Ferguson travelled to America carrying the culmination of years of experimental engineering: the Ferguson System.

At Henry Ford’s estate at Dearborn, Michigan, Ferguson demonstrated a Ferguson-Brown Model A tractor and its implements to Henry Ford Senior. The integrated hydraulic three-point linkage allowed tractor and implement to operate effectively as a single unit.

The two men reached an unusual agreement without a conventional written contract. Ferguson and Ford shook hands. Ford would manufacture a tractor incorporating the Ferguson System, while Ferguson would bring his patents, engineering knowledge and system of implements to the venture.

The collaboration produced the Ford-Ferguson 9N, with production beginning in 1939. It brought Ferguson’s engineering programme together with Ford’s industrial manufacturing capacity and carried the system to farmers on a new scale.