The Two-Wheel Tractor Handbook , livre ebook

Praise for
T he T wo -W heel T ractor H andbook
Jam-packed with great information. This book is going to save serious growers a lot of time tinkering around.
-Curtis Stone, author, The Urban Farmer
When growing vegetables for market, one of the most important lessons is that bigger is not better. It s quite the contrary-even one acre of cultivated land can allow a grower to make a living in farming. Another lesson is to size the equipment properly, which is why two-wheel tractors have become so popular in recent years. In this fantastic book, you ll learn everything you need to know about this appropriate technology. This book is truly unique, full of tips, hints, and tidbits even for someone like me who s been farming with such tractors for over 20 years.
-Jean-Martin Fortier, author, The Market Gardener
Zach Loeks The Two-Wheel Tractor Handbook is a detailed, beautiful, and much-needed must-have for every market gardener s library-and for anyone serious about using small machines to manage their farm.
-Matt Powers, author, Regenerative Soil
This book is essential to anyone who owns a BCS tractor or who is exploring the purchase of one. I use a BCS in the garden, forest, and the snow and found a ton of insights in Zach s book. The review of various BCS implements, different uses for these machines, and maintenance tips is invaluable to the novice and intermediate user alike. This book should be included as a how-to manual with every BCS tractor sold.
-Rob Avis, Verge Permaculture, co-author, Building Your Permaculture Property and Essential Rainwater Harvesting
Easily the most comprehensive guide to two-wheel tractors ever written. Get more out of your two-wheel tractor with all the tips and tricks while saving money by doing the maintenance yourself.
-Diego Footer, founder, Paperpot Co.
As much as I favor managing your garden with hand tools, if you scale up to marketing you may need some help. In addition to serving as an operator s manual for two-wheel tractors, this book helps you define your goals for your enterprise and decide just what equipment you may need. A good resource to have.
-Cindy Conner, author, Grow a Sustainable Diet and Homegrown Flax and Cotton
This very practical manual will help us really understand our two-wheel tractors and get the best out of them while giving them our best. Even those in favor of minimizing tilling understand that some circumstances call for tilling, so let s do it well. Mindful, good use of machinery is important!
-Pam Dawling, teacher, speaker, and author, Sustainable Market Farming and The Year-Round Hoophouse
The scale of farming is crucial in designing farm systems and planning for labor, investments, profits, and machinery. This book discusses scale and choosing a family of machinery that work together and allow a farm to grow over time in a comprehensive and innovative way that I have not seen anywhere else.
-Sam Oschwald Tilton, direct market vegetable specialist, author of numerous articles and resources on sustainable agriculture, and vegetable farming mechanization specialist
The T wo -W heel T RACTOR H andbook
Small-scale equipment and innovative techniques for BOOSTING PRODUCTIVITY
Zach Loeks
Copyright 2023 by Jedediah Loeks.
All rights reserved.
Cover design by Diane McIntosh.
Cover photos by Jedediah Loeks
Printed in Canada. First printing December 2022.
Inquiries regarding requests to reprint all or part of The Two-Wheel Tractor Handbook should be addressed to New Society Publishers at the address below.
Any other inquiries can be directed by mail to:
New Society Publishers
P.O. Box 189, Gabriola Island, BC V0R 1X0, Canada
(250) 247-9737
L ibrary and A rchives C anada C ataloguing in P ublication
Title: The two-wheel tractor handbook : small-scale equipment and innovative techniques for boosting productivity / Zach Loeks.
Names: Loeks, Zach, 1985- author.
Description: Includes index.
Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20220437580 | Canadiana (ebook) 20220437610 | isbn 9780865719842 (softcover) | isbn 9781771423731 ( epub ) | isbn 9781550927771 ( pdf )
Subjects: LCSH: Tractors-Handbooks, manuals, etc. | LCSH: Farms, Small-Handbooks, manuals, etc. | LCSH: Agricultural productivity-Handbooks, manuals, etc. | LCGFT: Handbooks and manuals.
Classification: LCC TL233 .L64 2023 | DDC 629.225/2-dc23
New Society Publishers mission is to publish books that contribute in fundamental ways to building an ecologically sustainable and just society, and to do so with the least possible impact on the environment, in a manner that models this vision.
Liability Statement
The author and publisher hold no accountability for use of the equipment described in these pages by readers or anyone else. This book is not a replacement for reading the tractor and implement user manuals or for the common sense and specialized training necessary for safe and effective operation.
Table of Contents Liability Statement Cover Inside Material Praise Preamble Introduction This Book s Format About This Book Small-Scale Profit Resilience Chapter 1: A Story About a Horse The Horse and His Boy The Origin of Two-Wheel Tractors Honoring the Two-Wheel Tractor The Italian Two-Wheel Renaissance Chapter 2: Two-Wheel Tractor Essentials The Definitive Two-Wheel Tractor Eleven Two-Wheel Tractor Benefits The Types of Two-Wheel Tractors Row Crop Tractor with High Clearance Row Crop Tractor Features Tractor Components: Form and Function Powersafe Clutch and Transmission Tractor Operation: Getting Started Steps to Get Operating Steps to Begin Implement Operation A Bit of Tractor Safety Chapter 3: Implements and Their Uses Types of Implements Selected Equipment Profiles Chapter 4: Equipment Decision-Making Scale-Suitable Equipment Scale Phases Equipment Guilds and Operation Cycles Guild Enterprise Production Guild Enterprise Brainstorming Template Budgeting for Tractors and Equipment Chapter 5: Selected Enterprise Examples The Backyard Gardener (.25-5 APA) Suburban Homesteader (1-3 APA) Market Grower (1-3 APA) Row Crop Farmer (3-6 APA) Back-to-the-Lander (3-15 APA) Groundskeeper and Landscaper (Various APA) Grassland Farmer (8-13 APA) Tree Nursery (3-6 APA) Edible Ecosystem Management Chapter 6: Permabed System for Two-Wheel Tractors Permabed System Permabed Architecture Permaplot Design Permaplot Layout Compost-a-Path Principles Permabed Soil Design Using Equipment for Crop Rotation Management Chapter 7: Growing from Scratch 1. Clearing New Land (or Reclaiming) 2. Garden Plot Layout 3. Micro-Plowing a Field 4. Permabed Layout and Bed Building Options 5. Building Beds with a Power Ridger 6. Refining Your Rough Permabeds 7. Seasonal Bed Preparation Operations 8. Succession Planting and Crop Guild Design 9. Other Seasonal Management Chapter 8: Tractor Maintenance and Care Tractor Maintenance Simplified Essential Tools for Maintenance Essential Maintenance Supplies Maintenance Tips Checking and Changing Honda Engine Oil Two-Wheeling into the Future Glossary of Common Terms and Jargon Index About the Author About New Society Publishers
Cover Inside Material
Praise
For Dad, thanks for keeping our hearts on track to a more beautiful world. Thanks to the many people who shared their stories and wisdom. Special thanks to Ryan, Stefano Lorenzo for helping set up the Italian farm tours and to Larry, Vera and Ted for reading my drafts with scrutiny. This book s first illustrations were done almost five years ago, thanks to the journey and the publishing team at New Society Publishers.
Preamble
Hey All, Two-wheel tractors are great for small-scale growers! They have been around for a long time and really deserve much wider use across many land-based industries. The best implements are chosen to complete whole operation cycles-like building and preparing garden beds from scratch-and organized into equipment guilds as a practical design concept. Your projects and enterprises should scale up by setting a goal for an intended static scale don t just keep getting bigger!
By setting goals for an intended static scale and understanding the principles of scale, growers can better select and use two-wheel tractors and equipment. Focusing on multi-functional equipment use and understanding enterprise profit and resilience is key to wise investment. I am a strong believer in investing in technology, soil, and biodiversity.
Grow on!
-Zach
Introduction
This Book s Format
This book is for current and future operators, covering background and basics as well as advanced topics, such as the Permabed System, and innovative techniques like the Compost-a-Path Method.
The holistic discussion covers principles to help growers adopt and adapt the presented techniques and designs to their own context, rather than having to apply a cookie-cutter plan.
This illustrated guide has hand-drawn designs by me, alongside photos, to help bring concepts together. Unless otherwise stated, I took all the photos. There are also full-page infographics (figures) covering the main design concepts.
The book s jargon has many terms for innovative two-wheel tractor use. Important terms will be in bold and defined briefly the first time they occur.
This book is organized into main topic chapters which are dotted with Pro Tips, Design Boxes, and Farm Features to help the conversation go deeper with case studies and examples.
About This Book
Despite increasingly widespread two-wheel tractor use, agriculture and landscape industries remain defined by four-wheel tractors. In part, this book s goal is to return the two-wheel tractor to its rightful place as a small-scale solution for land management, especially for diversified and highly profitable stewardship of farms, homesteads, and landscapes.
Chapter 1 explores 100 years of two-wheel tractor origin , innovation, and renaissance to whet our appetite for broader and more innovative uses. This includes my own evolving experience.
Chapter 2 discusses this