Braud (company)

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Braud is an agricultural equipment company founded in 1870 in St Mars La Jaille, France. It began by making threshing machines, and in 1908 produced the first power-driven thresher, followed by the first all-metal thresher in 1927. Braud built a strong position in the French combine harvester market, selling about 1,600 units by 1968. The 1970s European crisis hit Braud hard, with a 45% drop, leading the company to focus on grape harvesters. In 1975 Braud released its first grape harvester, the 1020, and later the 1040, which sold over 2,000 units in four years. Braud became a leader in self-propelled grape harvesters, holding roughly 60% of the French market and 50% worldwide. In 1983 Braud produced 670 grape harvesters. In 1984 Fiatagri acquired 75% of Braud.