The American farming landscape changed dramatically in the years from 1850 to 1950 due mostly to the introduction of farm tractors. Early tractors used steam engines and then the internal combustion engine was introduced in the twentieth century. The early steam engine tractor was primitive looking and gigantic and used chains on a rotating shaft to control steering.

Not long after tractors were introduced, farmers quickly found that engine driven tractors were more economical to use than keeping animals to till the land, so tractors began selling across the land. Many times agricultural machinery dealers would receive cattle as partial payment for tractors and they would in turn sell the cattle in the meat market. The Farmall is one of early tractors and the most familiar and famous names in tractor history. Tractors were made to be work horses, so niceties were minimal. This included foregoing a fuel gauge.

Tractors are most useful for cultivation purposes, so a tractor or tractors have been a must for farm owners, but tractors are also used in excavation, in manufacturing and industry, or on construction sites. The selection of an optimum equipment set and ultimately, the number of tractors necessary to farm. Is driven by farm size, availability of labor and custom services, crop selection, and cultural practices, such as the choice of tillage system. Even though the demand for tractor power increases with farm size generally, many commercial farms operate efficiently with only one tractor.

Tractors are designed to operate at different travel speeds, but the final drives are not designed for all possible torques theoretically available. The engine may range from about 12 to 120 horsepower or more and tractors over the years have been typically offered in the range of 20 to 400 horsepower. Engine power is transmitted to a gearbox typically having 4 to10 speeds (these transmissions are manually switched via a control lever to determine how fast the tractor can go) and through the differential gear to the two large rear-drive wheels. Some farm tractors can reach speeds up to 25 miles per hour, but slow speeds are necessary to give the farmer more control while doing field work.

Insufficient ballast can cause increased fuel consumption and excessive wheel slip so tractors can add weight and ballast to help in reducing wheel slip when pulling heavy loads. Tractors use large tires to avoid digging in and compressing the earth. Unless the tractor has four wheel drive only the rear tires really need to be large while the front tires can be small and smooth. Tractors which are used on irregular ground may have front axels mounted so that their left and right front ends independently rise and fall with the earth contours. Soil contour can, however, induce tractor vibrations, which can reduce driver's comfort and his capability in controlling the linked machinery.

Tractors are mostly used to pull, but in some cases, push objects. They are designed to use slow speeds to pull large loads or higher speeds with lighter loads. Speeds in the field may get up to 10 mph, but 2 to 5 mph is more typical for rangeland applications. Tractors are generally are two-wheel drive or two-wheel drive with front wheel assist, but some may use four-wheel drive (often with articulated steering). There are also tracked tractors (with either two or four powered rubber tracks).

In order to prevent rollover the hitching point for tractors is below the rear axles. Some people, in an attempt to get more weight / traction, have unfortunately attached to a point above the rear axle of the drive wheels but this can lead to disaster. When a tractor is used to free and tow a stuck vehicle, the vehicles should be hitched front-to-front with a chain using the towing tractor in reverse. This method transmits all the engine power of the towing tractor through the chain to the towed vehicle thus minimizing the risk for rollover.

Normally farm implements are attached to the rear of the tractor by either a drawbar or a three-point hitch. The three-point hitch, which allows the operator to lift the implement being towed and transfers the weight and stress of an implement to the rear wheels of the tractor, was invented by Harry Ferguson in 1926 and has been standard since the 1960s.

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