This may not be the first-time farmers are hearing about methane tractors, but after years of waiting, this tractor will soon be available to farmers.

A new tractor by New Holland will be the first tractor to run 100 percent off of methane from agricultural waste.

New Holland first introduced its prototype for a methane-ran tractor back in 2013. In 2017 at the Farm Progress show, the company showed off a more definitive “version” of the tractor. Now, in 2022, farmers might be able to finally take part in this reality.

The first 20 methane tractors were set to be built in New Hollands Basildon plant back in 2020 but COVID and lack of production capacity kept pushing the date back.

Running the Tractor

The tractor will use alternative fuels, such as livestock manure, through its Clean Energy Leader strategy to help with the goal of decarbonizing agriculture.

The tractors are geared towards companies that have their own biogas productions. Unlike biogas plants that just burn the gas directly in the engine to create energy; in order to fuel the tractor, the gas needs to go through additional treatment and cleaning.

If biomethane isn’t readily available, the tractor is able to run off of compressed natural gas.

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Its climate-friendly technology earned the tractor the title of Sustainable Tractor of the Year 2022 at the EIMA Agricultural Trade Show in Bologna, Italy.

A limited supply of the tractor is available to be ordered in July and is expected to hit dealership lots by 2023. It is scheduled to make its public debut at the 2022 World Ag Expo on February 8-10 in California.

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