Comment – There, and back again

It’s been a busy week, with an odyssey to Kassel in Germany and back (eventually) for the DLG/VDMA pre agritechnica press briefing.

Oh, and I went by train, which is great for work and very relaxing, but not when the 5 hour delay getting to Brussels on the return leg means you miss the home connection in London! Yours truly is writing this on the final leg home 12 hours later.

For the uninitiated, think formal press conference with the DLG and VDMA top brass giving ‘the state of the nation’ address. Then heading into a conference room set up with 48 companies, at separate tables for some technical ‘speed dating’.  Over two days. Exhausting and fascinating in equal measures.

It was however an intriguing look into the workings of the European and global machinery business.

So, some headlines:

• Record turnover (and profit) across VDMA member manufacturers, which has led to major investments in technology, processes, acquisitions, and facilities.
• Challenges for wider society and farmers. Including the influence of climate change, the cost of money, availability of skilled labour and a worsening wider economic picture.
• Drivers for these challenges remain the turbulent world situation, specifically the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and global tensions between the US with the EU (on one side) and Russia and China on the other.
• Legislation actively aiming to reduce pesticide use across EU by approx. 50%.

A bit closer to home (and I guess no surprise) this is leading to machinery manufacturers increasingly focusing on:

• The sustainability agenda including alternative fuel sources such as HVO, and engine alternatives including hydrogen, methane, LPG, and electrification.
• Automation, autonomy, and methods to reduce labour input, and or the skills required to do the job.
• Precision farming, sensors, information, and big data to inform decision support.
• Integrations of hardware, software, and data sharing, to enable seamless movement of management information.
• Resource management, be that water, fuel, fertiliser, agchem and seeds;

All in all, an eye opener on the wider world, alongside some reassurance that whilst we may be on a small island politically isolated from the EU, we have the same issues to face.

Have a good week.

Andy