Montana Tractors*

If there were an award for making lemonade out of lemons, Montana Tractors would win hands down.

In 2004, the bankruptcy of a tractor importer in Farmington left one of its creditors with some tractors that needed to be sold. That creditor happened to be one of the most successful entrepreneurs in Arkansas history, J.B. Hunt.

That was less than three years ago. Last year, Montana Tractors sold almost 4,000 small tractors through a network of more than 300 dealerships around the country. What’s more, it provides full-time employment for more than 70 Arkansans.

“The entrepreneurial spirit behind this belongs to Mr. J.B. Hunt,” said Ted Wade, vice chairman and co-owner of Montana Tractors, the d/b/a for NW-AFS LLC. “Needless to say, he’s sorely missed around here.”

Other owners are Hunt’s widow, Johnelle, Charles Goforth and Dan Downing.

Montana Tractors imports tractors that are 80-85 percent assembled by their manufacturers in South Korea and Romania. Its employees add the tires, loaders and the Montana name and distribute them to the dealers ready to sell to customers Wade described as “hobby farmers.” These utility tractors aren’t suitable for large commercial farming, he said, but they are ideal for the weekend farmer or the family that needs to maintain a 5- or 10-acre home site.

Montana Tractors distributes tractors and implements manufactured by LS, a subsidiary of the better known Korean manufacturer LG; TYM, another Korean company; and UTB of Romania. The company’s revenue grew by some 30 percent in 2006.

J.B. Hunt was an Arkansan through and through, but Wade said he named the tractor company after a state that he loved to visit.

“Montana is open and rugged, and he wanted to provide a tractor that had that same image,” Wade said.