Business Alabama

July  2017

Open Source Tractor Plows Small Farm Circuit

After a disappointing rebuff from the Republic of Cuba last fall on its proposal to assemble tractors in the Mariel Special Development Zone, Cleber LLC has refocused by doing business in five new countries while increasing marketing efforts in the U.S.

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Greenpeace Magazin.

July  2017

Oggún can not plow: Cuba's bureaucrats slow down investors by Von Denis Düttmann

Robust, cheap, easy to repair: The Cleber tractors could help Cuban agriculture. But the US company is not allowed to settle on the Caribbean island. A lesson on the hurdles for foreign investors in Cuba.

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Bluff Country News

April 12, 2017

The Oggun – it’s more than a tractor, it’s a different way of thinking!

It’s called the Oggun (Oh-goon), and it’s a different take on the farm tractor than many folks in agriculture may be used to. Southeast Minnesota residents got their first look at the new tractor during a showcase event at Featherstone Farms

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Acreage Life

July 2017

The Oggun – it’s more than a tractor, it’s a different way of thinking!

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Small Farm Update

July  2017

Oggun Tractor teams up with USAID Soybean Innovation Lab

Here in the U.S., agricultural technology means one farmer can easily work hundreds of acres solo.  Most Americans, though, have lost touch with our agrarian roots, and almost none of us are faced with the choice of growing our own food or not having anything  to eat.  

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Locky Catron graduated from Iowa State University with an Agricultural Business degree and joined the three-person Cleber, LLC, team in Alabama. Her experiences working both in Big Ag and on organic farms led her to have a passion for regional food systems and a more diversified agriculture.

Heritage Radio Network

February 28, 2017

EPISODE 291 LOCKY CATRON, OGGUN TRACTOR

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The Oggun tractor, which will be manufactured in Fyffe, was developed for farmers domestically and in the developing world as a low-cost alternative to heavy farm equipment.

AL.com

November 30, 2016

An Alabama-made tractor could revolutionize farming around the globe

Horace Clemmons, Cleber LLC Founder, discusses the challenges of getting his company's farm equipment and a factory into Cuba...

CNBC 'Power Lunch'

November 15, 2016

Alabama tractor maker aims for Cuban market

The tractor, called Oggun, is based on an open-source manufacturing model that uses off-the-shelf components. The base structure of the unit, called the Universal Power Platform, is centered around existing engine technology, hydraulic pumps, motors, and hubs, according to a data sheet about the machine. Modeled after the Allis-Chalmers Model G...

Growing Produce

June 17, 2016

New Tractor for the Small Grower on the Horizon

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At first glance, it may look like an Allis Chalmers Model G, the iconic orange single-row tractor for small growers of yesteryear. But upon further inspection, this is not your grandfather’s tractor. This is something different, something
completely modern and innovative...

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Growing Alabama

November 1, 2016

Oggun: A Modern Tractor and a Radical Idea

Two ex-IBMers are building a big red machine in a low-tech nation. “Come on, boy! Get dressed! We got to go!” yells Horace Clemmons. He’s heckling his longtime friend and business associate, Saul Berenthal, who sits cross-legged on a leather chair in the living room of Clemmons’s home in Paint Rock, Alabama. It’s a Tuesday in mid-April, and the duo is scheduled to give a presentation to a group of local investors about their new business, CleBer...

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Bloomberg Businessweek

June 9, 2016

Cuba's First American-Owned Manufacturer Will Make Tractors

In early 2016, tiny Alabama-based Cleber, LLC managed to conquer two Goliaths with one stone. It became the first American company to receive authorization from both the US and Cuba to set up a manufacturing operation on the island’s Mariel Special Development Zone.

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Huffington Post

April 14, 2016

Frugal Innovation Scores Another Victory in Cuba: Lessons from an Embargo-Busting Small Tractor Company

Major interest moves Southeast tractor company to expand plans. Originally was making single-row tractors for Cuban market. Need a $10,000 single-row tractor to work small farm acreage? You’ll probably want to check out Alabama-based tractor manufacturer CleBer, LLC.

Delta Farm Press

May 27, 2016

Single-row tractor company aiming to serve small farmers globally

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Communist leaders’ suspicions, U.S. trade embargo counter government’s quest for foreign funding. President Barack Obama’s trip to Cuba is bolstering hopes that a flood of investment and tourists across the Florida Straits will extend prosperity and freedom to those living on the communist-ruled island. But entrepreneurs and consultants who have

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The Wall Street Journal

March 21, 2016

Hard Realities Cloud Dreams of Businesses Hoping to Enter Cuba

When President Obama travels to Cuba next month — the first visit by a sitting U.S. president in nearly 90 years — it will mark a historic step on the path to normalizing relations with the island nation. While Obama is in Havana, two U.S. businessmen are hoping the president might spend some time with them — or even take a seat on a prototype of the tractor they plan to assemble and sell in Cuba.

NPR: All Things Considered

First U.S. Factory OK'd For Cuba Aims To Plow A Path Into 21st Century

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February 22, 2016


Two engineers, who met 40 years ago when they worked at IBM, have founded a tractor company, and are planning to build the first U.S. plant in Cuba since 1959 • Their Oggun tractor is “blockade proof,” based on an Open Source Manufacturing Model, that is, easily acquired off-the-shelf components...

Granma

April 11, 2016

Cleber tractors, engines of change between Cuba and the United States

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Soybean Innovation Lab

August  2017

Improving Mechanization for African Smallholder Farmers Webinar Series

CleBer LLC is the developer of the Oggún Tractor and power system, which uses an Open System Manufacturing model, meaning that they give the design and parts lists to all customers. Their global business model is not one of selling a tractor, but is enabling developing economies to manufacture a tractor.

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Rural Lifestyle Dealer

July  2017

The Oggun Model: A Tractor Company Without Dealers

What if your customer base had the option of purchasing tractors directly from the manufacturer for less money, with a simple design and components that could be sourced from local auto parts stores and serviced by non-certified independent mechanics?

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Farm Equipment

May 2018

CleBer LLC Oggún Tractor

CleBer's Oggún Tractor is designed with all off-the-shelf parts and made to be fixed in the field or local shop. The belly and rear 3-point hitch attachments are compatible with Category 1 implements. It is designed to be adaptable and flexible to the needs of the operator.

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WAFF 48 News Huntsville, AL

May 2018

Jackson County tractor company working to help small farmers in the Ukraine

A Jackson County-based tractor company is hoping to bring cost effective farming to the Ukraine.Cleber LLC. has now signed an agreement with a Ukrainian company to manufacture the Oggun tractor. Trying to get his tractor to Cuba, Horace Clemmons attempted to get it there, but it just didn't turn out the way he wanted so...

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News Observer

May 2018

They built a tractor for Cuban farmers, but others will use it instead

Two ex-IBMers from the Triangle built the Oggun tractor for Cuban farmers, but can't sell it in Cuba. So their company, Cleber, is looking elsewhere and has licensed the design to companies that will build and sell it in Ukraine and Peru.

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