Friday, October 14, 2011

Russia Lacks Tractors, Combines, and Other Modern Farm Equipment, Holding Back Production


photo: flickr via Safariman ~ creative commons

According to this Bloomberg article...
Russia has modern agricultural equipment deficiencies including combines, milk and meat production equipment that are causing them to lose 1 million tons of meat, 7 million tons of milk, and 15 million to 20 million metric tons of grain that cannot be harvested, estimating that they need an additional 280,000 new tractors and 90,000 combine harvesters.

I checked, and according to Rosagromash, for the first seven months of 2011, Russia has added 22,889 new tractors, a 104.3% increase over 2010. They have added 5,058 self-propelled combines in the first seven months of 2011, a 59.2% increase over the same time period in 2010.