In 1959, the YB80, Sato Machinery’s first small tractor, appeared on the scene. With the arrival of the 1970s, the demand for a tractor offering greater power output which resulted in the emergence of a lineup of mid-class tractors included the ST2500 (D2500). In 1981, the company released the industry’s first flat-deck model that allowed the operator to place the feet flat on the deck. In 1985, the F1 Series of tractors, which incorporated MAC which microcomputer control system, was released to the market. In 2003, the company introduced GCR160, a 160-horse power full-crawler tractor.In 2012, a model equipped with a gyro-MAC system to enable high-precision cultivation made its debut. In 2017, the company unveiled the small tractor GS Series, which featured the new Eagle Design for Mitsubishi tractors. Research is being undertaken daily to ensure that each Mitsubishi tractor can have a long life thanks to the pursuit of task performance, safety, and durability.

In 1968, fifty-four years after the invention of the Sato rice and grain thresher in 1914, Model H50, the industry’s first rideable head feeding combine, was introduced. Twin step-up threshers, component-up features (1995), and other proprietary functions have long been incorporated into many models offered by the company. In 2002, VM7, the world’s smallest combine, was released to the market. We commercialized the Super e-Thresher in 2010 and the VCH650, Japan’s smallest Axial-flow combine, in 2012; both were the result of joint research conducted with the current National Agriculture and Food Research Organization. The philosophy behind the Sato rice and grain thresher remains just as valid today and has been inherited by modern combines produced by the company.

Recycled paper-mulching Rice Trans-planter LKE60D

In 1976, we developed a side-row pasting system to enable environmentally friendly high-precision fertilization to be carried out at the same time as the transplantation of rice. We were the first in the industry to develop this and many other laborsaving technological innovations tied to rice transplantation. We have made many labor-saving contributions in this area by, among other actions, developing “Quick Rice Trans-planter” that works without having to till the ground, “Harrow Rice Trans-planter” that transplants nursery at the same time that rotary harrowing is undertaken, and a recycled paper-mulching rice trans-planter designed to reduce the amount of weeding carried out by organic farmers. In 2002, we released “Makurakko”, a headland-leveling device used to eliminate what was once hard labor by coupling it with our harrow rice trans-planter. In 2006, we developed a nursery bed slider that was designed to help reduce the amount of heavy labor involved in feeding seedlings to the trans-planter. We intend to continue to help achieve superior laborsaving results for enhanced task performance.

Power tillers and cultivators constituted the essence of cultivation work since before the arrival of tractors on the farming scene. They are put to a wide variety of different uses, including the cultivation of everything from paddy to vegetables-field, and remain a part of numerous crop systems today. In 1988, we released the My Boy MMR50, the first rear rotary-type Mini-tiller in the industry, and effectively established a new product category. In 2005, the front rotary type Mini-Tiller MFR3 was introduced for easier, more user-friendly operations. The latter half of the first decade of this century saw a home-gardening boom that prompted us to release EL20, the first mini-cultivator to run on a cartridge-gas in the industry, in 2009. We will continue to provide the products that are ideal for many crop-cultivation systems in an effort to bolster safe, reliable Japanese-style crop farming in line with the rising levels of consumer interest in food.