John Deere plans to invest $80 million in new facilities in Russia for distribution, replacement parts and training. It will be located in the Kaluga region, 38 miles southwest of Moscow.

            Initially the 98-acre facility will provide a 322,000-square-foot distribution center for replacement parts, training for dealer personnel, a product demonstration site and whole goods distribution. It is scheduled to be operating in 2010.

            “Our strategic investment reflects Deere’s confidence in the Russian and other Commonwealth of Independent States markets,” said Robert Lane, chairman and chief executive officer of John Deere.

            John Deere opened a forestry sales branch in St. Petersburg in 2002 and an agricultural sales branch in Moscow in 2003; the latter supervises a network of 13 dealers.

            John Deere added a manufacturing and assembly plant for seeding equipment in Orenburg in 2005.