JOHN DEERE OPENS NEW MANUFACTURING FACILITY IN RUSSIA

Deere & Company officially opened its new manufacturing and parts distribution facility south of Moscow in Domodedovo. The John Deere Domodedovo facility is the company's largest single investment to date in Russia. The facility will manufacture agricultural, construction and forestry machinery as well as distribute service parts in the region.

"Russia has a tradition of embracing advanced equipment and modern agricultural and forestry management practices," said Deere & Company chairman and CEO Samuel R. Allen at the facility's grand opening ceremony. "These are critical to the health and development of large-scale farming and forestry. They also tend to be a good match for the capabilities of John Deere products."

The new facility at Domodedovo is open just nine months after John Deere first announced its plans at the Russia – U.S. Business Forum last summer. Deere received strong cooperation from the Russian Federal government, the Moscow Oblast, and the community of Domodedovo to open the factory within this short time frame. Allen noted that most of the world's available arable land is already being farmed, that clean water is becoming increasingly scarce, and that infrastructure is needed in many parts of the world to bring crops and forestry materials to market.

"Russia has great advantages in all these areas and the potential to become one of the world's major food-producing regions," Allen said. At the opening ceremony for the John Deere facility, Allen said Russia's future holds "truly immense potential as a major provider of the renewable resources so vital to the world's economic and social well-being." He added that Deere's future plans in Russia are supportive of the Russian government's objectives to boost the output of grains and other renewable resources and to make the farm and forestry sectors more commercially vibrant.

Deere has said that the new Domodedovo facility will include a new EurAsia Parts Distribution Center and manufacture products for the company's two major divisions, including large tractors and combines for use in agriculture and a series of products for use in construction and forestry. Both the parts distribution and manufacturing capabilities will help John Deere serve customers in Russia and throughout the Commonwealth of Independent States and in other nearby markets.

In his remarks at the grand opening, Allen said, Deere first sold products in Russia 100 years ago. Now, he said, in addition to the new Domodedovo location, John Deere has a manufacturing site in Orenburg, offices in St. Petersburg and Moscow and over 70 sales and service locations located in Russia.

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