Ukraine: A video of a small blue tractor towing away a tank while a man desperately runs after them is doing the rounds on Twitter.
Protests and war are dominating the news. Country News takes a look at the role the humble farm tractor has played in these seismic events.
Ukrainian tractor steals a Russian tank
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Can we verify this video of a small tractor hauling away a Russian tank, possibly on February 27? No, we can’t.
There are hints of accuracy, however. The tank is carrying ‘Z’ marks which have been spotted on numerous Russian tanks, trucks and amphibious rigs entering eastern Ukraine. Observers speculate these ‘Z’ marks could be symbols so Russians don’t blow up each other accidentally, can identify what company they are in or display where they are headed.
The tractor is probably a MTZ-1221.2, which were produced in 2010 in Belarus by MTZ Machinery. We found one that looked strikingly similar for sale in Kherson, Ukraine, for $15,500, with an apparent 132 horsepower.
That’s a lot of tractors
Poland: Farmers were protesting for a “less restrictive” implementation of the EU Green Deal, which will make Europe carbon-neutral by 2050, and a more effective management of African swine fever, which is active in Poland. Photo: BalkanInsight
Polish police blockaded the roads so farmers simply abandoned their vehicles and walked on foot towards the Chancellery of the Prime Minister in Warsaw.
BalkanInsight reported on February 23 that farmers were worried their businesses were collapsing under the pressures of rising fuel and fertiliser costs, combined with what they considered to be unfair prices offered by supermarkets.
We’ve got ourselves a convoy
Serbia: Farmers were also demanding regulation of imported frozen meat and the “uncontrolled” import of powdered milk. Photo: N1
Farmers in Serbia’s north organised a protest drive on February 24 after the government ignored their requests for the abolishment of duties on euro diesel for registered farms, 200 euros per hectare subsidies, regular and fast payment of all outstanding subsidies and payment of all future dues within 60 days, according to cable news channel N1.
Boots, hay and tractors make a point
France: Sixty tractors were used in the French town of Amiens, where they deposited bales of straw, according to the AFP news agency. Photo: @EuropeConvoy
Farmers parked their tractors in the centre of Lille in France on February 23, and symbolically dropped off their boots to demand lower remuneration, according to the AFP.
"Electricity has quadrupled, the price of fertiliser has tripled, animal feed has increased a lot too," Matthieu Leroy, a young breeder from Comines, said.
“We can't afford a minimum wage for 70 hours a week.”
The demonstrators are also worried about the obligation to leave four to seven per cent of land fallow from 2023, as part of the reform of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy.
Back to where it all began
Canada: Police walk past parked tractors in the capital city, Ottawa.
No more lockdowns, no more masks and no more vaccination mandates was the rallying cry when rural voters used their easy access to heavy machinery to run convoys to parliamentary buildings in Canada’s TrucksForFreedom protest in February.
The convoy protests have been controversial to say the least, as Canadians in favour of the lockdowns (about two-thirds of the population, according to the Washington Post) verbally lashed out at protesters.
Semi-trucks were heavily used by protestors, while tractors were more common on the organised protest day of February 6.
And honourable mentions go to:
The ‘Howl of Protest’ in New Zealand
New Zealand: Protestors on Oxford St, Levin. Photo: Mark Mitchell.
Thousands of tractors and utes entered New Zealand towns and cities last July, as farmers protested new environmental regulations, demanded the ‘ute tax’ be scrapped and asked for border control measures to be eased to allow seasonal workers entry into the country.
In Auckland they caused gridlock on the motorways and in Dunedin created a 5km long procession that brought the city to a standstill.
Indian farmers mobilise 7000 tractors
In 2020-21, Indian farmers and their unions were involved in heavy protests against three new farm acts.
On January 26, 2021 a large convoy of tractors and horse riders formed a police-approved parade. Police estimated there were about 7000 tractors involved, according to India TV News.
When the parade was barred from entering Delhi, violence erupted and more than 300 police personnel were injured and one farmer died.
The 27-year-old farmer had driven at a police barrage and flipped his tractor, crushing himself underneath. The man had been living in Australia before returning to his home town to celebrate his recent wedding with family.
Delhi Police said it barred the parade because the farmers had started marching ahead of schedule and didn’t match the agreed upon route.
The last time tractors hit our streets?
Australia: ‘Can the Plan’ was the last time we can remember tractors being used by protestors locally.
Recently in Australia tractor protests have been reserved for the ‘worst of the worst’: water politics.
In April 2019, tractors and trucks converged on Albury-Wodonga to protest limited water allocations, recent fish kills and the popular feeling that NSW, Queensland and South Australia were getting the lion’s share of Murray water.
In December 2019, the ‘Can the Plan’ convoy to Canberra was run. Meeting in Yass and crawling into Canberra, participants spent two days protesting outside Parliament House, asking politicians to set up a royal commission into the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
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