Growing demand for tractors with stepless drive, or continuously variable transmissions (CVTs), helped fuel sales growth for ZF’s agricultural machinery systems business unit last year.

Now part of the Industrial Technology division of the $20 billion automotive components supplier following reorganization into sector-focused divisions, farm vehicle technology revenues grew by more than 23% from the equivalent of $386 million in 2010 to $476 million in 2011, as the recovery in farm tractor sales and production…