AURORA HIGGINSON/Arizona Daily Wildcat Frank Clark of John Deere & Company discounted a $180,000 prototype tractor for the Agriculture department yesterday morning. The state of the art tractor is designed to meet EPA standards.

The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences went looking for a new tractor and came away with a steal of a deal.

The Agriculture Center had $53,000 to spend on a new tractor and, with the help of John Deere Corporation, walked away with an $180,000 machine, said Gene Sander, dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

The tractor is the first piece of new equipment the department has acquired since 1988 after functioning with only one machine of its kind until the donation.

Bert Settle, maintenance mechanic for the Agriculture Center, said the Agriculture Center needs two or three loaders to function properly and the new machine is will really help out.

"The farm has never seen something this new," Settle said. "That's a Cadillac right there."

Kevin Kalthoff, lead mechanic at the Agriculture Center, was given the task of finding a loader that fit very specific specifications for $53,000, which was a very hard task, Kalthoff said.

After Kalthoff called around to local dealers to see if they had a machine that fit their specifications and was in their price range, he said he came up empty handed.

He began asking dealers if they could donate the whole machine or at least part of it to the department, but was still unable to acquire the tractor, Kalthoff said.

He then thought of a co-worker, Jack Keating, who had previously worked for John Deere. Kalthoff spoke with Keating about the situation and through Keating's contacts at John Deere he was able to put Kalthoff in contact with the right people at the company, Kalthoff said.

"Jack put the key in the door to start this process," said Tracy Everingham, Agriculture Center farm manager.

Keating, who is now retired from the Agriculture Center, called an old friend at John Deere. Jerry Ihm, a national technical advisor on engine-related problems for John Deere in Iowa, who Keating used to carpool with when he worked at the company.

Keating asked him if he could help and the ball started rolling from there, he said.

John Deere Corp. had a prototype of a new machine, the 544J, and rather than just "scrap it" they decided to donate it - at a discounted rate - to someone who could use it, like the Agriculture Center, said Frank Clark, manager of Product Support Operations.

"We try to work with universities or people in need," Clark said. "Because of the past economy the funds are not there (so it was) better to donate the machine or sell it at a lower price."

Most of the equipment the Agriculture Center uses, including uniforms, computers and office and mechanical equipment, are handed down through a program with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Kalthoff said.

The program gives old equipment from military bases to other federal agencies, one of which is the United States Department of Agriculture, when they are no longer needed on the base.

"It's a very good program but when you get somebody's old worn out tractor it leaves a lot to be desired," Kalthoff said.

The machine donated by John Deere is going to be used almost every day by all of the crews, Everingham said.

"People are probably going to do rock, paper, scissors on who's going to get to use it," Everingham said.

The new machine will benefit all campus agriculture centers and was really needed, said Arturo Baez, greenhouse supervisor.

The new machine will make a terrific difference, Sander said.

"Nothing runs like a Deere," Sander said.

In appreciation for the donation, Sander gave the John Deere associates basketballs signed by Lute Olsen and the UA basketball team.