Atlantic Tractor provided the equipment in support of breast cancer awareness
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and a U.S. tractor dealer supported a breast cancer advocate by fulfilling a unique request.
Beth Steeley, who raises goats, bees and chickens on about 21 acres in Queenstown, Md., walked into the Atlantic Tractor dealership in Queen Anne, Md. looking to purchase a John Deere 2032R.
She committed to buying the tractor on the spot if the dealership could do away with John Deere’s iconic green for something a little different.
She got the idea after reading that John Deere provided different colored tractors for customers in the past, including a white one for the Queen of England and black one for the Pope’s guard, she said during the tractor’s Sept. 19 unveiling in the dealership’s showroom.
Steeley’s connection to breast cancer is personal as her aunt experienced the illness twice.
She wants to use the tractor to raise awareness among all women – especially women in agriculture.
Receiving the pink tractor “took a community to come together and start supporting women in farming, which has been very hard for me because I am a widow, I have 21 acres and I want to farm,” she said. “It’s all part of a conversation that I am hoping this tractor will start.”
Other equipment manufacturers have also made exceptions to equipment colors to support breast cancer awareness.
Valtra unveiled a pink tractor in May to support the cause.
In 2015, AGCO rolled a pink Challenger MT865E tractor off its assembly line to bring attention to breast cancer awareness.
Beth Steeley and salesman Hunter Allen stand beside the pink John Deere tractor.
Hannah Combs photo