What impact did mechanized farm equipment such as the tractor have on Kansas farmers?

An enormous impact. A tractor, a planter and a combine makes it possible for one person to do the work that would have taken 50 people to do in pre-industrial times. Those 50 people got other jobs doing other things, which expanded the nation's wealth and productivity.

A hundred years ago, 90% of the people in the United States were farmers or farm workers. Now, enough food for a nation of 300 million people are produced by fewer than 5% of the population. Food prices have fallen dramatically, leading to the fact that our biggest nutritional problem is now obesity rather than famine.