Aggregate world demand for agricultural machinery and equipment is projected to increase 4.5% per year between 1999 and 2004, reaching close to $60 billion in the latter year. This is not particularly impressive compared to other global manufacturing industry markets, but it would represent a significant improvement over the recent historical performance. Developing countries, in particular, hold significant potential to upgrade the productivity of their respective agricultural sectors via the application of more advanced farming techniques and equipment, and ongoing industrialization in many such nations is creating the capital for investing in these endeavors.