Belarus (tractor)
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Belarus («Белару́с», earlier «Белару́сь») is a series of four-wheeled tractors produced since 1950 at Minsk Tractor Works, MTZ (Belarusian: Мінскі трактарны завод; Russian: Ми́нский тра́кторный заво́д, МТЗ) in Minsk, Belarus. These tractors are very well known throughout the Commonwealth of Independent States and are exported to more than 100 countries worldwide, including the United States and Canada.
Up to the 1950s MTZ had not produced wheeled tractors, tracked crawler tractors being more common. These early tractors were essentially re-claimed tanks, with the gun turret removed and a flatbed, winch, crane or dozer blade added; the tractors saw more use in land reclamation and forestry applications rather than agriculture. This was largely due to the tanks being unsuitable for large-scale cultivation, as their engine, transmission and track reliability were poor due to not being designed for pulling loads for long periods, as required in agriculture. New designs were put into production during 1950, and the new MTZ wheeled tractor was born. These tractors were built to the three main concepts of Soviet engineering: reliability, simplicity and value for money.
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Some 3 million tractors have been built in the Minsk Tractor Works since 1948. In 2010, distribution of Belarus tractors in United States and Canada was re-established through a local distributor "MTZ Equipment Ltd".[1] One of the contributing factors was that the factory started making tractors with compression ignition diesel engines matching the current emissions standards, including Tier 3/4i/4 (United States/Canada) and Euro 3a, 3b, 4 for emission standards in Europe.
In February 2014, the MTZ brand made its first appearance at the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, Kentucky, with the MTZ 1220 tractor model.
A Belarus model 1523.3 tractor was gifted to Vladimir Putin on his 70th birthday by President of Belarus Aleksander Lukashenko.[2]
