John Deere displayed a couple of cut-down tractors like this one that people could get into and experience sitting at the controls.
Photo: Scott Garvey
AGCO's Challenger brand decided to hang its newest pull-type sprayer on the wall.
Photo: Scott Garvey
The 1000 Series Fendt tractor won the 2016 “Tractor of the Year” award. Expect to see AGCO hold a couple of debut events at shows in North America to introduce this machine, which will wear a couple of different brand names, to Canadian and U.S. farmers in early 2016.
Photo: Scott Garvey
One of those “concept” machines that pop up at Agritechnica was this electrically driven hay rake and the X Concept Fendt tractor. Visitors could vary the rotation speed of the rake from an iPad control panel at the edge of the display, demonstrating the advantage of electric drive.
Photo: Scott Garvey
Kuhn's new high-speed bale wrapper, which allows bales to be picked up in the field wrapped and set back down without stopping the tractor won an Innovations Award from judges at Agritechnica.
Photo: Scott Garvey
There were also classic machines on display. This vintage Deutz shows that the idea of tracks in agriculture has been around for a while.
Photo: Scott Garvey
The Greenbot, a market-ready, fully autonomous, 100 horsepower tractor made its debut at the show. This machine was already sold and will go to work on a farm in the Netherlands.
Photo: Scott Garvey
JCB demonstrated how the new 4000 Series Fastrac can do double duty with a mounted sprayer kit.
Photo: Scott Garvey
Väderstad, parent company of Saskatchewan-based Seed Hawk, held a selfie competition. Visitors could take their picture beside the moose and enter it to compete for a prize.
Photo: Scott Garvey
The number of companies that offer self-propelled high-clearance sprayers in Europe is staggering—as are their designs.
Photo: Scott Garvey
There are always a few attractive models included in displays at this show.
Photo: Scott Garvey
Adding bling like these synchronized television screens on the side of a Krone silage wagon help grab attention from passers-by.
Photo: Scott Garvey
Adding bling like these synchronized television screens on the side of a Krone silage wagon help grab attention from passers-by.
Photo: Scott Garvey
Executives at China's Zoomlion brand say they want to make the company a global brand.
Photo: Scott Garvey
There were several simulators at the show that visitors could get into and try their hands at things like driving a virtual combine.
Photo: Scott Garvey
It’s a little difficult to compare the Agritechnica farm machinery expo to the kinds of regional shows most Western Canadian farmers are familiar with. Aside from the sheer scale of the event which featured over 2,900 exhibitors this year, Agritechnica is in a league of its own and runs every second November in Hanover Germany.
The Hanover Fair Grounds has around 30 mammoth exhibition halls that allow almost all of the displays to be indoors. Organizers say there are about 11 kilometres of carpeted hallways to walk if you want to see everything.
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CNH plans for “more than 15 new tractor launches, 10 combine launches, 19 crop production launches and over 30 precision technology releases between now and the end of 2027.”
The show includes machinery from all around the world, so the diversity is mind boggling. Most of those brands now routinely schedule their really innovative technology releases to coincide with the show in order to make a global splash. And there are always a few concept machines on display that point in the direction of farm machinery’s future. That future seems, without a doubt, to be robotics.
The show also acts as an information exchange, with a large number of seminars and press conferences scheduled. There are also venues designed to simply allow people from all parts of the globe to meet and interact, and that includes making business contacts.
Grainews spent the full week on the show grounds taking in as much as possible in order to report back to our readers. Here’s a look at some of the displays that caught our eye. Watch for detailed articles in future print issues of Grainews.
