Quoting former Russian Agricultural Minister, Alexander Tkachev, the organisers of YugAgro, the largest Russian farm machinery exhibition, recently said that Russia needs ".. at least 180,000 new tractors and 80,000 new combines" to fill the gap in Russia's total farm machinery pool which has shrunk by more 50% in the last decade.
No wonder major US and European manufacturers have ramped up their presence in Russia over the past 10-15 years. It is a country with huge farming potential, which has been starved of the quantity and quality of tractors and farm machinery it needed to make the most of its natural resources.
In the latest episode of his Inside Agri-Turf podcast, Chris Biddle reports how the leading brands have become firmly embedded in the Russian market, providing much needed expertise and new technology.
Manufacturers such as CLAAS, John Deere, CNH Industrial and AGCO have invested huge sums establishing state of the art production facilities, training and service support in a country where the sheer size of the region presents considerable logistical challenges.
Today everything has come to a shuddering halt.
Sanctions have been imposed and most leading manufacturers have announced that they are halting supplies as a result of Russia's decision to invade and wage war on neighbouring Ukraine, a democratic, independent country.
Chris looks at their presence in the Russian market, and the difficult position they find now themselves in.
Between them, Russia and Ukraine provide almost a third of the world's grain harvest, and Ukraine's production is under threat this year, hit by transport difficulties, shortage of fertiliser and diesel, closure of the ports - not to mention the danger of attack.
He also quotes a Ukrainian farmer, growing wheat and sunflower seeds on 3500 hectares who says, "Today I'm farming wheat, tomorrow I might be shooting Russians" - and who has already modified his farm truck to mount a machine gun.
Chris preludes his analysis with a few words on the day that the Russians came to his home city armed with one of the worlds deadliest nerve agents - and ends by considering whether we need to re-consider our food self-sufficiency in the UK.
NOTE: There are links to the source documents in the Show Notes to the episode (25 minutes)
LISTEN to the episode
