After Farm Equipment’s Executive Editor, Kim Schmidt, returned from 2023’s edition of Agritechnica in Hanover, Germany, we visited a bit about her overall takeaway from the massive global exposition of farm equipment and new technology. While she and a group of correspondents did a masterful job of covering the week-long introduction to the latest new iron and circuitry housed in 24 large exhibit halls, I was more interested in what key trends she may have noticed and pondered on her long flight back to the U.S.

“Collaboration,” she explained. “I was taken with the number of major equipment players partnering to develop new equipment to meet the needs of their respective end users.”

Apparently what Kim had noticed was the adoption of a more cooperative spirit in an industry of OEMs who have traditionally held their competitors at a long arm’s length and shrouded their “drawing boards” and R&D under layers of secrecy.

One of the most obvious breaks in this trend ripped through Detroit a decade ago when Ford and General Motors (not the coziest of cross-town rivals over any period since 1908 when GM was founded and when Henry Ford produced the first Model T) agreed to co-develop a 9-speed automatic transmission for application in both companies’ products. That partnership has seen Blue Oval products and a host of GM models shifting off the same blueprint to this day.

As the industry adage says, “If you want to see the future in ag equipment, keep an eye on the transportation industry.”

In our conversation, Kim and I discussed three examples of this kind of industrial alliances on full display in Hanover last fall — along with the fact they largely involve companies of significantly different expertise. 

Krone, an industry leader in hay and forage equipment, and Lemken, the producer of tillage and seeding products are working on the Combined Powers concept autonomous vehicle. The project paves the way for a robotic workhorse that can provide pulling power in both broad-acre fields and the hay meadow, all the while mapping, data-logging, sensing field and crop conditions and making real-time adjustments for optimum performance, regardless of the chore list.

The machine features ISOBUS tractor/implement communication along with Tractor Implement Management (TIM) capability, whereby the implement can control certain tractor functions.

The cabless tractor is powered by a 230-horsepower diesel-electric system capable of 170 kilowatts of electrical power to drive the wheels and any electrical implements or actuators that may be part of the specific assigned field operations. The chassis, driveline and software have been developed to operate with both Krone’s forage harvesting equipment and Lemken’s tillage tools. 

Similarly, Amazone, Claas and AgXeed have formed the first multi-manufacturer autonomy group, 3A – Advanced, Automation & Autonomy, to speed development of equipment capable of varying degrees of autonomy up to and including fully autonomous operation.

3A connects tractors and implements to the planning and autonomous implementation process using ISOBUS interface. 

AgXeed, a Dutch firm, displayed the group’s autonomous tracked AgBot at Agritechnica featuring its ability to operate robotically for up to 23 hours saving growers time as well as inputs through a suite of peripheral seeding, spraying and application tools.

Officials with all 3 European-based firms say the autonomy group is open to other interested agricultural machinery manufacturers.

In North America, Great Plains International (a Kubota holding) and Montag Mfg. are co-developing dry fertilizer application equipment for U.S. and global markets. 

Great Plains International President Tom Bryan says he and Anthony Montag have discussed collaborating on product development for several years, and the resulting partnership is bearing fruit. The companies fielded a new dry fertilizer cart (Montag’s signature product) designed to work in tandem with 12-to-16-row Great Plains planters.

Bryan says while liquid fertilizer is popular in North America, around the world 80% of the fertilizer used is in dry form, and the collaborative effort with Montag will allow Great Plains to offer its products globally with appropriate technology for customers there. The new dry fertilizer cart is a 2024 product and represents the first of several additional collaborative products Great Plains and Montag have planned over the coming years.

Do these collaborations point to a change in attitudes or traditional R&D “etiquette”? Of course, time will tell, but Agritechnica 2023 could conceivably become a “watershed moment.”