Impressions from Agritechnica

I’m in Hannover, Germany, the location for Agritechnica 2011. Held every two years, Agritechnica is the largest farm equipment show in the world. There are 24 massive halls filled with farm equipment. About half of the 2,750 exhibitors are from Germany with the other half from countries around the world. There are 48 Canadian exhibitors, mostly from Saskatchewan and Manitoba. As you would expect, this is a major show for companies like John Deere and New Holland and they spend a tremendous amount of money to host literally tens of thousands of customers. What’s surprising is the number of big European companies with impressive displays that are little known names in North America. It’s also surprising to see the amount of equipment devoted to tillage. While direct seeding in the norm in Western Canada, in many other regions of the world, the plows and rippers and cultivators just keep getting bigger and more elaborate. You might think that since farms are smaller in Europe that the equipment would be small. Most of the equipment lacks our extreme width, but there are still lots of huge high clearance sprayers and much of the equipment for applying liquid manure is massive. Stay tuned for more from Agritechnica. I’m Kevin Hursh.