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Agritechnica: Autonomy, electric power, and Chinese growth

Michael Moroney was at Agritechnica last month and here he gives us a taste of the trends and a flavour of the innovations on show

At a big farm-machinery show such as the world-leading Agritechnica, there are so many new machine introductions across so many exhibition halls, that it is not possible to do full justice to the creators of such a wide range of new machines.
The best we can do is identify trends, and some were obvious from my recent visit to the Hannover Messe, the home of Agritechnica. The most obvious trends were autonomous tractors to cope with labour shortage on European farms, electrification of tractors and machines to lower emissions from agricultural production, and a noticeable increase in tractors and machinery manufactured in China.

Autonomy

More and more companies were showing autonomous tractors, and this included some mainstream producers such as Fendt, Kubota, New Holland and John Deere. The original AgXeed has been enhanced through field trials and don’t be surprised if we see one in Ireland.

Electric

Electrification is also on the increase. It is becoming increasingly popular in the construction industry and some of that technology is now transferring to agriculture. Expect to see much more as improved battery technology evolves and there will be linkages with hydrogen power to deliver those zero emissions targets for European agriculture.

Chinese growth

Of the 2,849 exhibitors at this year’s Agritechnica show, the majority were of German origin, followed by Dutch and Italian manufacturers, with Chinese-origin manufacturers in fourth place. Chinese origin machines are now more modern, have greater use of technology and they are present with conventional diesel power, hybrid drives and electric drive systems, coupled with the full array of driver control systems. It is clear that the success of Chinese-built cars in the European market has spurred the Chinese farm machinery to challenge the market strongly.
Here, we give you a mere flavour of the trends from Agritechnica 2025. It is a show that has attracted the interest of thousands of Irish farmers and contractors and the entire farm machinery industry. It is a venue where Ireland’s farm machinery technology needs to be showcased strongly.

Norman Egar, Association of Farm and Forestry Contractors in Ireland (FCI); Hartmut Mathias, German Agricultural Contractors Association (BLU); Ann Gleeson Hanrahan, FCI; Klaus Pentzlin, European Confederation of Agricultural, Rural and Forestry Contractors (CEETTAR) president; Rainer Stompen, BLU president; John Hughes, FCI; and Richard White, FCI at the BLU stand at the Agritechnica Show in Hannover, Germany.
Mastek's Adam Quigley, design engineer, with Paul Quinn, managing director, pictured at the Mastek stand.
Fearghail Connolly and Mike Malone of Malone Farm Machinery at their stand at the recent Agritechnica Show held in Hannover, Germany.
Thomas McPartland and Richard Fitzpatrick of Slurryquip pictured at the Northern Ireland stand at Agritechnica.
Fendt brought its Xaver autonomous tractor to the Agritechnica and to add to the tractor’s environmental credentials it was fitted out with a mechanical weeding machine.
The AgXeed is probably the original of the autonomous tractors and the company showcased its Amazone partnership at Agritechnica.
Fendt had the latest incarnation of the electric power e-Tractor on show with 100hp capacity and front and rear linkages, tailored to the smaller scale vegetable and wine grower across Europe.
Deutz-Fahr launched a new tractor range packed with advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) similar to those used in cars!
One of the bigger Chinese farm machinery displays was this Zoomlion brand that has recently bought the German farm machinery manufacturer, Rabe, and had this impressive Chinese-built combine harvester on view along with tractors and telehandlers.
Romanian-built tractors under the Universal brand were popular in Ireland in the 1970s and 1980s and a new tractor brand called Targo emerged at Agritechnica with a 100hp tractor.
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