AGCO

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AGCO Corporation (NYSE: AG) is an agricultural equipment manufacturer based in Duluth, Georgia, USA. It was formed in 1990 when executives at Deutz-Allis bought out Deutz-Allis' North American operations from the parent corporation KHD, Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz, a German company that owned the Deutz-Fahr brand of agriculture equipment.

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[edit] Company history

The company was first called Gleaner-Allis Corporation, then rearranged to be Allis-Gleaner Corporation, or AGCO. The design for these tractors and combines were originally designed by Allis-Chalmers Corp. prior to the sellout to Deutz-Allis. The Deutz-Allis line of tractors were renamed AGCO-Allis, and Gleaner became a brand of its own for combines. The Deutz-Allis brand continued in South America until 2001, when they were renamed AGCO-Allis. They continue in the lime-green livery. In 2001, AGCO-Allis was renamed AGCO in North America, while the AGCO-Allis brand continues in South America.

In 1991, AGCO purchased the Hesston Corporation, gaining hay and forage equipment. Hesston had a 50 percent joint venture with Case International, now a part of CNH Global. AGCO purchased the White Tractor line from the Allied Corporation's White-New Idea company. In 1993, AGCO purchased the remainder of White-New Idea, gaining New Idea hay equipment and manure spreaders, and White Planters.

Also in 1993, AGCO purchased the North American distribution rights to Massey Ferguson, a world-wide agricultural equipment company owned by the Varity Corporation. In 1994, they purchased McConnell Tractors, manufacturer of the large articulated Massey Ferguson branded tractors. AGCO then developed the Agcostar line of articulated tractors. Later in 1994, the Black Machine line of planters was purchased, and the entire Massey-Ferguson company was purchased as well. Included with the purchase of MF was 24% of the Indian MF-licensee TAFE, and a percentage of Landini, with the remainder owned by ARGO and Iseki. AGCO began distributing the Landini branded tractors in North America.

1995 saw the purchase of the AgEquipment Group, which manufactured tillage equipment and loaders under the Glenco, Tye and Farmhand brands. In 1996, acquisitions went international with the purchase of Iochpe-Maxion in Brazil. This was the Brazilian company that had rights to the Massey Ferguson brand and manufacturing in the region, as well as the Maxion brand of industrial equipment. This was also the year that AGCO purchase Deutz Argentina, the number one leader of tractors in Argentina. Also in 1996, AGCO purchased the Western Combine Corporation and Portage Manufacturing in Canada. Western Combine had previously purchased the assets of the Massey Combine Corporation's combine operation, which had been spun-off by Massey-Ferguson. AGCO made a bid for Ursus in 1996, but was unsuccessful.

1997 was the year of the major purchase of Fendt in Germany, the leading German tractor company. Fendt is well known for its advanced technology. AGCO also acquired Dronningborg Industries in Denmark, the manufacturer of European Massey-Ferguson combines, and former manufacturer of Dronningborg combines.

In 1998, AGCO made a joint venture with Deutz AG to produce engines in Argentina, and purchased the Spra-Coupe and Willmar companies. Spra-Coupe and Willmar are leading sprayer companies in North America.

For the year 2000, AGCO bought out its partner Case International in the Hay and Forage Industries joint venture. Also in 2000, 50% of Same Deutz-Fahr North America was purchased, and AGCO began distributing SAME and Deutz-Fahr tractors in North America. AGCO sold that interest in 2003 back to SDF. The remaining ownership of Landini was sold to ARGO in 2000, ending the MF-Landini ownership tie that spanned back to 1959 when Massey-Ferguson had bought Landini.

In 2001, AGCO purchased Ag-Chem Equipment, expanding its spreader business. That year, the Agco-Allis and White tractor lines were merged in North America to become simply AGCO, continuing in the orange colour scheme.

2002 was the year that AGCO purchased rights to the Challenger name and the tracked tractors from the Caterpillar Corporation, giving AGCO a well-known brand name and high-power tracked tractors. AGCO further developed the Challenger line into: wheeled tractors, using tractors manufactured by Iseki, Agritalia, the Massey Ferguson factory and the Brazilian Valtra factory; combines, re-branding some Massey Ferguson/Gleaner - built combines; and hay equipment, using Hesston-built hay equipment. AGCO also purchased the Sunflower Manufacturing Company, which manufactures tillage, seeding and speciality harvesting equipment.

2004 brought about the purchase of the Valtra tractor company from the Kone Group, in Finland. Valtra has some licensing agreements with the Eicher company in India for tractor production (which was purchased by TAFE, of which AGCO owns 24%), and also with the HEMA Group in Turkey. The purchase of Valtra also includes the Sisu engines brand.

2006 saw a re-focusing of the various brands, and the reduction of individual brands. AGCO announced plans to combine some, and make some only part of a larger brand, or co-branding. Examples include the Massey Ferguson 9635 Hesston self-propelled swather, and the AGCO 9365 Hesston self-propelled swather. Challenger has seen further expansion with the further consolidation of the AgChem brand into Challenger, and the introduction of Agritalia-built tractors and an articulated Challenger tractor.

In 2007, AGCO bought 50% of Laverda from ARGO, which includes the Gallagnani and Fella-Werke hay equipment brands.

[edit] AGCO brands

AGCO manufactures or distributes the following brands of equipment:

• AGCO Tractors (tractors, distributed throughout North America)
• AGCO-Allis Tractors (distributed throughout South America)
• Challenger (tractors, combine harvesters, hay equipment)
• Farmhand (tractor loaders)
• Fendt (tractors, combine harvesters in Europe)
• Gleaner (since 2006, marketed as AGCO Gleaner) (combine harvesters)
• Glencoe (tillage equipment)
• Hesston (since 2006, marketed as AGCO Hesston and Massey Ferguson Hesston) (hay and forage equipment)
• LOR*AL (fertilizer applicators)
• Massey Ferguson (full-line of tractors, combine harvestors, equipment, ATVs in Europe)
• Maxion (backhoes and fork trucks in Brazil
• New Idea (since 2006, marketed as AGCO New Idea) (hay and forage equipment, manure spreaders)
• Rogator and Terragator (fertilizer applicators)
• SisuDiesel Engines (high performance/low emission engines 50 - 400 HP)
• Spra-Coupe (sprayers)
• Sunflower (since 2006, marketed as AGCO Sunflower) (tillage equipment)
• Tye (tillage equipment, seeders)
• Valtra (tractors worldwide, and combine harvesters in South America)
• White (since 2006, marketed as AGCO White) (planters)
• Willmar (sprayers, application equipment)
• AGCO Parts & Service (replacement parts)

[edit] AGCO Brands distributed in the UK

• Challenger - Crawler tractors - formerly marketed by Caterpillar
• Deutz-Fahr - tractors & machinery
• Fendt - Tractors
• Massey Ferguson - tractors & machinery
• Valtra -tractors

[edit] See also

• List of Tractor Manufacturers
• List of Engine Manufacturers
• Agricultural Machinery
• List of Tractor Dealers

[edit] References

• Initial entry from wikipedia
• Classic Tractor Magazine

[edit] External links

• AGCO official web site

This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at AGCO. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Tractor & Construction Plant Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.