The impact of the global economic crisis, and a squeeze on machinery supplies which forced the purchase of second-hand equipment, means that only one tractor in the Landkom tractor fleet is less than three years old.

The Ukraine farm operator, which owns 78 tractors overall, warned that its operational efficiency was at risk of compromise from an ageing fleet of farm machinery.

Four of Landkom's 18 combines are under three years old.

"Although older machinery is appropriate for certain farming operations, large scale corporate farming has very high machinery utilisation over intensive periods and therefore cannot afford breakdowns," background papers to the London-listed group's takeover by Alpcot Agro said.

"Therefore a modern fleet is required to deliver optimal efficiency."

'Available vs optimal'

The state of the machinery portfolio reflects in part the company's expansion in the run up to the last farm commodities boom, which reached its peak in 2008, when the clamour to profit from high crop prices prompted a squeeze in machinery supplies.

"In some instances, this resulted in the purchase of available machinery rather than the optimal machinery," the documents said.

Much equipment was imported from the UK, "and was smaller than required in the Ukraine", with more than half the tractors rated at below 200 horsepower, while "some machinery was purchased used rather than new".

The tumble in farm commodity prices which began 2008 dashed hopes of upgrading the fleet, in forcing Landkom to minimise capital spending.

Staff ratio

The papers also revealed Landkom's potential productivity gap with Alpcot Agro, despite a campaign by chief executive Vitaliy Skotsyk to cut costs.

Alpcot Agro has one employee per 137 hectares, compared with 53 per employee at Landkom.