Shearing legend hooked on CanAm
Sir David Fagan, world-renowned competitive sheep shearer with 642 shearing titles worldwide and a knighthood to his name, now runs beef and dairy operations near Te Kuiti with wife Wendy and son Jack.
Beginning mid-year 2025, the agreement will offer farmers a streamlined low-mid range horsepower tractor portfolio up to 85hp, for AGCO’s leading Massey Ferguson brand in most global markets.
Luis Felli, senior vice president and general manager, Massey Ferguson, said “We are extremely proud to have a partner like SDF who shares our passion for serving the world’s farmers. This partnership will strengthen Massey Ferguson’s position in the low-mid horsepower tractor segment globally, allowing us to provide more farmers with straightforward, dependable and highquality equipment to drive their productivity and maximise profit.”
While details are yet to be confirmed, Rural News understands that the new product range will be offered with various powertrain options to match diverse needs of customers and markets.
AGCO expects the refreshed Massey Ferguson portfolio to help boost market share in the segment of up to 85 horsepower.
While the source of the tractors from within the SDF Group’s multiple manufacturing locations is yet to be confirmed, SDF builds tractors of this size at plants in Turkey (Bandirma) and India (Ranipet). Production capacity at the plant in Ranipet, which SDF acquired in 2013, has been upgraded recently to boost the capacity to in excess of 20,000 units a year, largely in the 40hp to 80hp segment.
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SDF builds tractors of this size at plants in Turkey and India. |
More recently, the Bandirma plant, which assembles tractors from 45 to 130hp, has seen capacity increased to 15,000 units a year, while in 2024, SDF also opened a new 10,000m² factory at this site to produce its three, four and sixcylinder FARMotion engines. We understand that, depending on intended markets, engines will feature engine emission levels of IIIA, IIIB or V.
While the announcement suggests the new tractors will be in addition to the existing Massey ranges or whether the longer plan is to replace some of them for SDF products, some industry sources are suggesting it could be that MF is looking to plug the gap between the current Iseki-built 1700E/M (35 to 67hp) and four-pot 75hp/85hp models in the 3 series, alongside the base 82hp tractor in the three-pot 4700 range.
Of course, one must also remember that there is a somewhat strained relationship with TAFE, the Indian manufacturer, who for many years has built Massey Ferguson tractors under license and is also a major shareholder in AGCO. Currently, the two companies are arguing about the ownership rights of the Massey Ferguson brand.
