The biggest attention-grabber at this year’s Farm Progress Show in Boone was a tractor that won’t even be on the market for several years, if ever. Perhaps that’s appropriate, given the sluggish state of the farm economy that prompted a lot of farmers to leave their checkbooks at home before roaming the expansive farm show grounds.

Nevertheless, an autonomous concept tractor from Case IH drew curious onlookers throughout the three-day show.

“The idea is to demonstrate what we can do,” said Case IH marketing manager Dan Danford. “We want to talk to customers and ask them: ‘Would you be interested in something like this?’ That’s going...