Since 2007, the AgroCentre has been supplying the Russian agricultural market with after-harvesting equipment manufactured by the North American AG Growth Group of Companies . Sergey Lomantsov, head of the grain technologies division of the AgroCentre Company, introduced the participants to machines and equipment for each stage of grain storage; from receivers and transporters to actual elevators.

After that, AgroCentre managers attended an operating elevator of EkoNivaAgro with a storage capacity of 32,000 tonnes of grain. The participants viewed Twister grain storage silos, each with a capacity of 1,000 tonnes, already in operation, as well as those under construction. The chief advantage of the concept employed is the absence of an embedded foundation, thereby saving time and money. Two grain dryers also drew much attention. The first one, Delux, with an output of 7 to 127 tonnes per hour, is designed for processing “coarse” crops. The second, Grain Handler, processes seeds. The modular construction of Grain Handler allows adjustment of sections for increasing the output. For example, an eight section machine operates at a rate of 13 tonnes per hour, and a twenty-two section model, at 112 tonnes per hour. The managers of AgroCentre spent quite some time at the seed production plant studying the operation of automated lines of the new plant erected on the elevator premises. Here, at a rate of 12 tonnes per hours the seeds undergo all stages of processing and are packed into “big bags”. The equipment made by the Canadian LMC Company turns out high class products containing no crushed grain and foreign admixtures and fully complying with GOST Russian State Standards. “Today we have a unique opportunity to improve our skills by visiting work facilities, not by watching them in a classroom with the help of a projector,” says Andrey Kharin, sales manager of AgroCentreLiski Сompany. “The training was very informative. We saw in real life what we had known only theoretically. We were shown the capabilities of the equipment and the advantages it offers to our customers. We learned many more little, but important things. For example, how to sort out the materials at the seed plant, and how to bring grain into silos. Many of us have assured ourselves that pit-stops exist not only on racing thoroughfares. As it happens, a pit-stop is a grain receiving device.”

AgroCentreKursk presented agricultural equipment of two global brands which are leaders in their class. Those are Vaderstad of Sweden, a leading manufacturer of seeding and tilling equipment, and JCB of the UK, a major manufacturer of loaders for a variety of applications.

Experience exchange, new accomplishments, and problems of sugar production are traditional topics of the forum. A distinguishing characteristic of this year is the demonstration of the latest equipment for cultivating and processing sugar beets.

At the Innovations in Action training session, the officials of JCB had plenty of material to discuss with their dealers. Among other things, the session dealt with the improvement of the JCB loader hydraulic system and introduction of new types of equipment due to appear soon.

Farm directors from Ryazan, Kirov, Altay Territory, Moscow, and Voronezh spent seven days in Sweden. During this time they visited the Vaderstad factory and several farms of various types, where they noted the high level of farming culture in small, by Russian standards, agricultural enterprises (on average 200-500 ha). At a seed farm they had the opportunity to acquaint themselves with the peculiarities of grain and grass seed production.

The fair has become a traditional meeting place for representatives of various companies from 17 countries both near and far. Over 900 enterprises took part in the exhibition. A respectable place in the agricultural equipment exposition at the anniversary fair was occupied by the agricultural machines from AgroCentreKursk.

Rais Minnikhanov, head of the district, and experts of the Department of Agriculture and Food Supplies, had come to see the Seed Hawk 1830-14 system in operation. This is all the more important given the republic’s farmers’ enduring interest in Seed Hawk, which had shown itself to advantage in Russia, especially in arid regions, such as Tatarstan. Seed Hawk works excellently with No-till technology, making it possible to effectively retain soil moisture. According to meteorologists, in terms of drought, this summer in Tatarstan may prove worse than last year’s and could be the worst on record. The head of Saba Ltd., Zinnur Dauliyev, evaluated the machine as follows:

The engineering prototype of the Top Down 900 cultivator was successfully tested in the Voronezh region in 2008. The machine produced impressive productivity results, i.e. the Top Down 900 tilled 16,000 ha in the season. 

For over two hundred years, the Kverneland Group has been producing towed equipment using new manufacturing technologies and exceptional expertise to meet farmers’ needs across the globe. Realising that the maintenance of such high-tech machines calls for continual improvement of servicing skills, EkoNiva is giving much attention to training its own engineers both at manufacturers’ plants and in Russia. This time,

On 16 February, a regional seminar/conference was held at the Artel Closed Joint-stock Company, Oboyansky district, Kursk region. This was devoted to preparation for field work in the spring. Over 150 agricultural organizations of the region took part.

Equipment presented by AgroCentreKursk aroused keen interest. Talks with customers over the purchase of farming machinery were held at the exposition . This was all the more convenient given that today the Company offers various purchase schemes for equipment.

“Now the contributing companies of the AgroCentre association are conducting a special campaign involving a grace period for buying machinery,” says Vladimir Zherdev, AgroCentreKursk deputy executive director. “Using this arrangement, the buyer makes the first payment of 25% of the cost of equipment, supplying the remaining 75% in equal instalments during the subsequent twelve months.”

In addition, AgroCentre customers can acquire machinery on credit via Rosselkhozbank and SberBank as well as by financial leasing through MKB-Leasing Establishment, Deutsche Leasing Vostok, and De Lage Lander (DLL).

The AgroCentre Company came up with new equipment for grain storage and treatment. Company manager Yuri Maslov spoke about preferences voiced by the exhibition guests.