The rejection of modern farm tractors is one of the defining characteristics of Old Order Amish agriculture. However, visiting certain church districts in Ohio or Indiana reveals farmers using tractors around barns or equipped with steel wheels instead of rubber tires.
The Fear of Industrial Expansion
The prohibition against rubber-tired field tractors was established in the 1920s. Church leaders recognized that rubber tires allowed tractors to move quickly between fields, drive into town, and facilitate massive commercial farm expansion, eroding close-knit family farm structures.
The Steel-Wheel Compromise
In moderate districts, tractors are permitted for stationary belt power (threshing or filling silos) or fitted with steel wheels featuring cleats. Steel wheels make tractors bumpy and impractical for driving on paved roads into town, successfully containing tractor use strictly to farm tasks.