Challenger puts down roots in nature reserve

The Kursk branch of AgroCentreLiski has found an interesting partner, the Professor V.V.Alyokhin Central Black Earth State Nature Reserve.

The Reserve has purchased a fodder procurement system which includes the Challenger MT 455B 110 hp tractor, mower-crusher and rakes of the same brand, as well as a Kverneland pick-up baler.

“Our Nature Reserve traditionally maintains the steppe in its several original guises,” says Andrey Vlasov, Reserve director. “To save the meadow steppe, we need to mow around 1,000 ha each year. The machines we have used over the years have become rather obsolete. These are E-303 mowers built in the former East Germany, plus tractors and trailed attachments manufactured back in the Soviet era. Therefore, updating of our equipment has been an acute issue.”

The funds for acquiring hay-making machines were made available to the Reserve under a joint project of UNDP/GEF/Russian Federation Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment “The improvement of mechanisms and systems for managing special protected natural areas in Russian steppe biome.” The project organisers declared a tender among the Kursk oblast's farming equipment suppliers which was won by AgroCentreLiski.

“There are few remaining Nature Reserves in Russia,” noted Aleksandr Logvinov, director of the company's Kursk branch. “That is why we enthusiastically received the new partner, the Central Black Earth Nature Reserve. We hope that our equipment will help us preserve and improve the virgin beauty of the local steppe. Once the season ends, our team will be sure to take an excursion to our Reserve.”