JCB creates out-of-this-world 75th birthday artwork

To celebrate the company’s upcoming 75th birthday, JCB, Rochester, Staffordshire, UK, carved a huge “75” into a recently combined field near the company’s headquarters.

The giant logo covers almost eight acres — equivalent to four soccer fields. The birthday tribute was large enough to be seen by imaging satellites orbiting high above the earth.

The special artwork was created ahead of JCB’s 75th anniversary on Oct. 23, 2020, by one of the company’s Fastrac tractors, which was equipped with a hi-tech precision guidance system. The tribute was created by uploading a digital version of the artwork to the Fastrac’s automatic steering system, which then calculated the guidance paths.

“Seventy-five years is a big milestone to reach and we wanted to mark it in a big way with a product which has played a significant role in JCB’s success. Using the JCB Fastrac to create a giant JCB logo in a field which could be seen from space seemed the perfect idea and the whole team was delighted with the result,” said David Timmis, JCB agriculture product and market manager.