“The deer runs to Poland” was the title of an article in Farmer in 1991, which announced the appearance of the legendary American brand on the Polish market. How much did combine harvesters and John Deere plows cost back then? How did these prices compare to Polish competition and who sold the first machines with a deer in the logo?
There are many questions and the answers are at least interesting. We often wrote about the prices of machines in the 1970s and 1980s. Yes, the times of the Polish People’s Republic were extremely interesting, but they lacked the color of the 1990s. However, it was not a good period for farmers.
The 1990s were a never-ending crisis, a spiral of loans, unpaid machines, problems with financing the means of production, and problems with obtaining appropriate purchase prices. In addition, there were dismissed employees from liquidated state farms and other agricultural centers who did not know what to do with themselves. The situation had an impact on domestic machine manufacturers, who had no one to sell their machines to, as well as widespread unemployment and job losses. Already in 1990, the first agricultural strikes began, and soon people such as Andrzej Lepper came to the fore.
In these conditions, the powerful of this world began to enter the game. Representative offices appeared, among others: Case IH, Claas and the aforementioned John Deere. Large, private farms, of which there were not many, could afford to buy such machines, so the existence of representative offices of Western companies in Poland was not without reason, but sales were at a low level.
Gawronik sells tractors
The 1990s are so colorful that it is difficult to present the entire atmosphere of those years in a short article. We only skimmed through the farmers’ situation, because going deeper would require thousands of words. It is similar when we enter into the interests, companies and stories of businessmen of that time. You don’t have to look far to get from one scandal to another, because the first representative of the John Deere brand in Poland was Aleksander Gawronik. Yes, this Aleksander Gawronik, associated with the Art-B company, senator of the third term.
![Meeting of the Prime Minister of Poland Jan Krzysztof Bielecki with representatives of Polish business in 1991. In the photo on the left, Aleksander Gawronik, then ArtB, is also the Minister of Labor and Social Policy Michał Boni, photo: PAP/Witold Jabłonowski](https://pliki.farmer.pl/i/19/03/85/190385_940.jpg)
Aleksander Gawronik’s Trade and Legal Office started selling John Deere machines in 1990 or 1991. In those years, Aleksander Gawronik was considered the richest Pole in the country. In the article from Farmer, we come across a few words from the director responsible for trading in agricultural machinery, Janusz Buczkowski.
Aleksander Gawronik himself is an extremely interesting character. In the 1960s, he was active in the Socialist Youth Union, graduated from the Evening University of Marxism-Leninism, was also an activist of the Polish United Workers’ Party, a full-time employee of the Security Service, and a secret intelligence collaborator. It is no secret that in the late 1980s he was friends with the then Deputy Prime Minister Ireneusz Sekuła (whose story is also a ready script for Patryk Vega’s film). Thanks to his connections, Gawronik knew well that in March 1989, the government of Mieczysław Rakowski would sign the decision to open currency exchange offices. Łebski Gawronik (who, of course, could have acted on behalf of the services, but this has not been proven in any way) launched the first network of currency exchange points in Poland in many places on the western border. In the 1990s, Gawronik regularly appeared in the top 10 richest Poles of the weekly “Wprost” (in 1990 he was in first place). One can write about the interests of a Polish businessman for a long time.
Aleksander Gawronik was also involved in the Art-B company, which he managed since August 1991. Previously, the company was managed by Bogusław Bagsik and Andrzej Gąsiorowski, for whom an arrest warrant was already issued at that time. In the same year, the State Protection Office detained Gawronik on charges of misappropriation of property worth approximately PLN 7.6 billion to the detriment of the Art-B company and the seizure of PLN 10 billion, which he allegedly took over illegally from the company’s debtor. The process began in 1993. At the same time, Gawronik was elected senator of the third term, running as an independent candidate. In the upper house, he co-created, among others, with Zbigniew Religa, the Independent Senators’ Club, and the Senate of the Republic of Poland did not waive his immunity. Comments are unnecessary.
This was not the end of Aleksander G’s criminal activities. In the following years, the businessman faced other charges, including the famous case of the murder of journalist Jarosław Ziętara. Gawronik was finally acquitted in 2022. We will not go deeper into this topic, because we have already gone too far from the main plot.
John Deere is progress in agriculture
Biuro Handlowo-Legal AG was a kind of holding company bringing together many interests, and the John Deere equipment trade was one of them. There is no indication that this part of Gawronik’s activity was characterized by illegal activity. During this period, the Polish businessman was looking for new “gifts” in which he could increase his capital, and the times were such that it was quite easy, especially with connections such as Gawronik.
![We do not know how many machines Gawronika managed to sell, or if at all, photo: K.Pawłowski](https://pliki.farmer.pl/i/19/03/86/190386_940.jpg)
At Farmer, the sales director of the John Deere brand, Janusz Buczkowski, said that sales on a larger scale would probably start in a year, or maybe even later, knowing and seeing the situation in Polish agriculture.
– Wherever John Deere enters, progress in agriculture also enters, and therefore the share of the John Deere brand in a given country proves the level of the entire agriculture – said Janusz Buczkowski, commenting that the American brand has 60 percent. share in the US market and over 10 percent in France and the Federal Republic of Germany. It was also mentioned that John Deere is a well-known brand in Hungary and Czechoslovakia for over a dozen years.
Billions for a combine harvester
It was announced that the Warsaw branch would sell all types of John Deere machines and, depending on the model, the waiting time for them would be from 3 to 5 months. Director Buczkowski announced that the offer would include machines such as John Deere 4955 and 4755 tractors with a power of 228 HP and 190 HP, which would be enough to independently process farms of up to 1,000 ha (there were almost none of them at that time).
![Fragment of an article from Farmer 1991.](https://pliki.farmer.pl/i/19/03/87/190387_940.jpg)
In addition to tractors, the prices of which were not given, the offer included combine harvesters with prices ranging from PLN 700 million to PLN 2.7 billion (PLN 70,000 – PLN 270,000), tillage units from PLN 135 to 200 million (PLN 13.5 – 20,000). thousand PLN), plows from PLN 105 to 250 million (from PLN 10.5 to 25 thousand), subsoilers from PLN 175 to 220 million (PLN 17.5 to 22 thousand), forage harvester (probably forage harvesters) for PLN 2 billion (PLN 200,000), a mower with a swath processor for PLN 200 million (PLN 20,000).
Representatives of Gawronika said that the prices correspond to the value of these machines in other markets and the company does not intend to offer them cheaper just because they are sold in Poland. Therefore, various forms of financing were proposed: from loans to leasing. By the end of the year, a John Deere dealer and service network was to be established, under the auspices of Aleksander Gawronik.
Prices of Polish agricultural machinery in 1991.
What did the prices of other machines look like against this background? We were particularly interested in those with the inscription “made in Poland”, because in this case the price clash seems to be major. For example, Ursus 2812 (former MF 255) cost PLN 53.7 million in December 1991, so for one cheapest John Deere plow we could have two licensed Ursus machines. One for one, the Ursus 4514 could be exchanged for the plow. Let’s also look at the other end of the Polish manufacturer’s price list. It turns out that the largest and most powerful Ursus 1634 (4×4) cost PLN 167.3 million, which is less than a mower with a swath processor from an American manufacturer.
And how much more expensive were John Deere combines than Polish ones? For example, Sampo Bizon 2020, winner of the Polagra ’91 gold medal, with a power of 80 HP and a grain tank capacity of 2.5 m3, cost PLN 252 million at that time, much less than the smallest John Deere worth PLN 700 million.
Shall we move on? The S043/3 Poznaniak grain seeder was valued at PLN 13.8 million, and the N 015 Kos fertilizer spreader at PLN 4 million. We don’t even want to convert these prices into the value of John Deere equipment. But we will also write that the Sipma Z-224/1 collecting press cost PLN 49.9 million at that time.
From other prices, we can say that Lentipur cost PLN 138,000. PLN per kg, live pigs class I approx. PLN 12.8 thousand PLN per kg, while GS in Nasielsk bought rabbits weighing 3-5 kg for PLN 12,000. PLN per kg.
To further illustrate the prices, we can provide the amounts for which car sellers in Dziennik Zachodni offered their automotive gems in 1991. A Syrena Bosto from 1981, extremely useful on the farm, was offered for about PLN 3 million, a Polish Fiat 125p Kombi from 1982 . was worth much more, PLN 10 million, five-year-old Nysa was sold for approximately PLN 18-19 million. The new cars included FSO 125p for approximately PLN 46 million and FSO Polonez for approximately PLN 60 million. it is worth noting that these are stock exchange prices, not official ones.
Finally, we will add that the average monthly salary in January 1991 was PLN 1,418,754, and the average rye purchase price in the fourth quarter was PLN 46.8 thousand. PLN per 1 q.
So John Deere entered the Polish market with a bang. Does anyone know farms that used powerful and expensive John Deere equipment at that time?