Wagner farm tractors
Wagner was founded in 1922, but in the early years of its operation, it offered products that were very different from farm tractors. Back then, the company’s major focus was on the manufacturing of mining and logging machinery. It entered the agricultural machinery segment in the 1950s and carries the honors of being the trendsetter in the field of 4WD articulated tractors. The company's most significant event occurred in the 1960s when it entered into an agreement with John Deere. Its early years were slow, owing primarily to a lack of demand for large-scale machines, with only 51 of them sold to interested buyers. Deere entered this market in 1971 with its variant of a large machine, which competed with Wagner's product. The company dealt a final blow to its own business by signing a 5-year non-compete clause that barred it from offering a product that could compete with Deere's rapidly growing technology. This forced Wagner to shut down operations, whereas Deere went on to become one of the industry's behemoths in the years that followed. The company simply could not compete with the might of its major competitors with only 8 tractor models available to customers. These products had power ratings ranging from 102 to 250 hp and were aimed at large-scale clients who meant serious business. Some of the tractor models offered by Wagner to its customer included but were not limited to WA-9, WA-14 and WA-17.