Tractor News

Vol.15/ No.10 Oct 2016

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Tractor News

Volume 15/ No.10, October 2016

TAFE’s launches

TAFE launches internationally acclaimed ‘SMART” series of tractorsand India’s premium Compact Utility tractors.

Vol.15/ No.10 Oct 2016

Tractor News

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Agriculture is not crop production as popular belief holds - it's theproduction of food and fiber from the world's land and waters. Withoutagriculture it is not possible to have a city, stock market, banks,university, church or army. Agriculture is the foundation of civilizationand any stable economy. Allan Savory

Contents:Sl.No. Title Page No.Domestic

1. TAFE plans to launch new platforms under Eicher brand 032. Better irrigation will lead ..mechanization: Mahindra’s Rajesh Jejurikar 033. Good monsoon puts tractor sales on the road to recovery 044. Farm Mechanisation In India- How MP Is transforming ...hiring centres 055. Govt allots Rs 2.55 crore to encourage horticulture farming 066. Rs. 14.37-lakh subsidy for buying farm equipment 077. Sonalika tractors parent to file for Rs. 2,000 crore IPO by early October 078. Our effort is for multiple usage of tractors’ 089. Expect double-digit revenue growth in FY17: VST Tillers 09

10. The driverless tractor, other devices from Mahindra’s cabinet of curiosities 0911. Sonalika unveils 120 HP tractor Solis 120 1012. Mahindra invests in online agri-retail start-up Merakisan.com 1113. Escorts tractor sales up 37.8% in September 1114. Mahindra tractor sales zoom 69 per cent in September 1215. New Agriculture Equipment Testing Centres to come up soon 1216. M&M, TAFE lookto rev up the tractor market 12

International17. Kioti returns to UK market with the 105hp PX1053 1418. Massey Ferguson introduces the world’s first 200hp four-cylinder tractor 1419. AGCO’s Martin Richenhagen reappointed to President Obama’s Advisory Council 1520. New tillage range, promise of more horsepower as Kubota expands 1621. Kubota takes aim for global leadership 1722. Deere wants to make your tractor smarter 1723. Tractor sales on rebound after slow month 1824. Grower likes new potato digger 1925. Industrial IOT: These ultra sonic sensors give sight to sounds 2026. AGCO to participate in data exchange initiative 2127. Rise of the robot tactors 2128. Advanced Israeli farming technology offers options for Myanmar 2329. LADA US$20M project to improve agriculture 2430. Russian ag machinery sector begins to defrost 2531. Why IoT, Big Data & smart farming is the future of agriculture 2532. Japan's 'agri-tech' farming revolution 2633. Tractor sales up more than a third in September from August 2834. Nigeria: 'How to attract youths into agriculture' 28

Tractor News, tenth issue of the fifteenth volume, is a regular feature, since inception in 2001

and is made accessible on your desktop by mid of every month. This is brought to you by yourLibrary and Info-Centre, in a new format that is aligned with Corporate Identity.

Tractor sales in the country has traditionally been determined by the state of the monsoon and thepower and price of the product. TAFE with the launch of its SMART series and Premium Compacttractor is here to penetrate the newer market and maintain the position it has held for long. Thedomestic tractor industry, as such, is bullish on the growth in the sector over the prospects of goodmonsoon season this year after two consecutive years of drought. The domestic tractor industry hadclocked sales of under 5,00,000 units in 2015 due to drought and consequent fall in demand in thefarm sector. The present government’s focus on the farm sector gives ample confidence to the sector

We need to be market ready and remain informated about the tractor industry. We can play a muchbigger role and go full throttle to serve the farming community with newer products and solutions.

The objective of Tractor News is to act as a window to the happenings in the tractor industry for ourreaders. The contents of this issue should help the reader in altering the stock of knowledge, yes,TAFEs’ collective knowledge. Happy Reading and Learning!

Suggestions on this issue can be forwarded to sureshn@tafe.com

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DOMESTIC

TAFE plans to launch new platforms under Eicher brandNarasimhan TE, Business Standard, Chennai, 15 September 2016, http://www.business-standard.com

Company launches India’s first premium compact utility tractor

Worlds’ third largest tractor maker Tractors and Farm Equipment Ltd (TAFE) on Thursday said that it isplanning to launch two new platforms under its Eicher brand. Speaking to reporters after launching newSmart series and India’s first premium compact utility tractor Mallika Srinivasan, chairperson and chiefexecutive of TAFE said that the Eicher brand tractor range will be expanded with two new platforms. Thiscomes on the back drop of company’s plan to start exporting Eicher brands.

The Rs 9,300 crore company, of which around Rs 8,000 crore tractor sales, targets to sell around 1.55 lakhtractors, including around 18,000-20,000 units outside India this year as against 1.45 lakh units, a yearago. Tafe will be shipping out sizeable number of 100 hp tractors to African market under TAFE brand.

TAFE has three brands — Massey Ferguson, Eicher and Tafe. The first two brands are sold in thedomestic market and the Tafe branded tractors are for export markets like Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladeshand parts of Europe. “We are positioning Massey Ferguson brand to showcase our technology, whileEicher brand for robust performance.” Srinivasan expects that the industry would grow by around 6-8% inthe next three years and Tafe’s growth will be faster than industry’s. On today’s launch, she said that thecompany is creating a new segment by launching a premium compact utility tractor.

“Farm operations are undergoing increased mechanisation as the labour is getting costlier and short.The28 hp tractor will find use in orchard, haulage or range of infrastructure applications,” Srinivasan said. Thevehicle has attachments like front end loader and backhoe.The company targets to sell around 1,000 units.

She said with the new Smart series tractors the company will redefine customer experience with respectto productivity, efficiency and return on investments. By end of 12 months, the company hopes to sellaround 10,000 units in Smart series. Agreeing that some of the Tafe vehicles are priced at a higher thancompeting products Srinivasan said the technology will enable the owner to take back his investmentfaster.

Better irrigation will lead to greater farm mechanization:Mahindra’s Rajesh JejurikarMohile SS, HT LiveMint, Mumbai, 15 September 2016, http://www.livemint.com

Rajesh Jejurikar, President and CEO (farm equipment) at Mahindra, says govt measures will addressthe challenges facing rural India

Long-term measures to boost the agricultural sector that the governmentannounced in this year’s budget will address the challenges facing ruralIndia, says Rajesh Jejurikar, president and chief executive of farmequipment and two-wheeler businesses at tractor maker Mahindra andMahindra Ltd. Edited excerpts from an interview:

How will the measures boost the agricultural sector and propeltractor demand?This industry has been cyclical in nature and the CAGR (compoundannual growth rate) for the last five to seven years has been 7% to 8%.The industry will have phases of low and high growth. It’s a bounce-backafter two bad monsoons. Investment in irrigation projects is the best thing to do, but unlikely to have a short-term impact. We believe it’s the right approach—money should be spent creating long-term fundamentalcapability for the future instead of giving short-term sops.

The real improvement in demand will happen post October and November, partly due to the season andthen, when the cash flow improves on the back of a good sowing that has happened this year and theimproved harvesting which happens because of that. It’s only when the cash-flow comes in, the realsituation on the ground sees a change.

The correlation between tractor sales and monsoons has often changed—in some years, it hasweakened and in some, it has strengthened. What really determines sales?One significant driving factor is what happens to the prices (minimum support prices) in the economy.Pricing, over and above a good rain, plays an important role in how the farmer sees his crop and investmentin assets. It’s not just about a good rain but also, “am I going to make money with the good rain? Am I goingto get good prices of the yield?” It is also linked to what they choose to cultivate at any given point of time.

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Tractors have always outsold farm equipment in India. Do we see that changing as mechanizationon farms improves?The organized farm mechanization (excluding tractors) business is not more than Rs4,000 crore to Rs5,000crore in India. Our guess is, the ratio of tractors to other equipment is 85:15 as the market in India for farmequipment is largely unorganized. As one goes forward, irrigation improves, greater leap from mechanizationcomes in, land consolidation, corporate and cooperative farming comes in, it will lead to greatermechanization, propelling demand for implements like rice transplanter, etc.

Is Mahindra looking at overseas acquisitions in the tractor and farm equipment business?Both growth in farm mechanization and globalization are important parts of our strategy and we will take aninorganic route to scale up. You can’t define boundaries. We can be looking at either tractors or farmequipment.

How do you see the new tractor launch plans panning out and how has the response been to the Yuvo?

It has found an exceptionally good response and we are looking at building on that. We have a pipeline ofnew products that will come out next calendar year.

Your outlook on exports.All I can say is, it is improving. You can see it in our August numbers. Africa, which was a problem last yearand impacted most players, is opening up now.

What is driving growth—is it tractors with lower or higher horsepower?We are seeing both ends growing. While the smaller horsepower tractors are growing because of beingdeployed for niche applications like orchards, horticulture, etc., higher power usage is going up because offarmers using implements such as rotavator. The higher horsepower is not always linked to the fact that afarmer has a bigger landholding.

Good monsoon puts tractor sales on the road to recoveryMohile SS, HT LiveMint, Mumbai, 15 Sep 2016, http://www.livemint.com

Tractor sales in the June quarter up 14.7% at 163,365 units; manufacturers revise sales growthprojections for 2016-17 from earlier 10% to 15-17%

After two lean years, tractor makers are looking forward to a bounty. A good monsoon and a pick-up ininfrastructure and construction, among other factors, could drive demand to the highest in two years, saidanalysts and industry officials. Most tractor makers have revised their sales growth projections for 2016-17from the earlier 10% to 15-17%. Sales are expected to rise most in the south, followed by eastern andnorthern states owing to lower tractor penetration in these regions and government-led schemes to supportagriculture.

Overall domestic sales in the June quarter were 163,365 units, 14.7% more than a year ago, said marketleader Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd (M&M). According to Rajesh Jejurikar, president and chief executive(farm equipment and two-wheeler business) at M&M, the optimism stems from the good progress anddistribution of monsoon and an improved crop yield.

“With monsoon, it’s not just the quantum of rainfall, but the timing and the spread that also matters,” hesaid. Pent-up demand after two years of rural distress has also aided growth, said Nikhil Nanda, jointmanaging director at Faridabad-based tractor maker Escorts Ltd. Nanda expects the forthcoming festiveseason to add more heft to the recovery and make up for the shortfall seen in the first half of the year.

In a conference call with analysts on 9 August, Pawan Goenka, executive director and group president(auto and farm sector) at M&M, said the company is looking at industry sales growth of 13%, 14%, 15%and 16% in the four quarters of fiscal year 2017, respectively. “The last quarter was one of the best that wehave seen when it comes to tractor industry. Of course, we had expected it to be good, but it was perhapseven better than what we had thought it might be,” he said.

M&M’s sales during the June quarter rose to 71,649 units, 21% more than a year ago. A let-up in overalltractor demand coupled with new model launches drove the market share of the Mumbai-based companyto a record 43.8% during the June quarter.

Escorts’s sales in the three-month period rose 10% from a year ago to 16,363 units. Ravi Menon, chiefexecutive (agri machinery group) at Escorts, said the company now expects the tractor market to advancein the high teens and his company to outperform the same. An email sent to TAFE Ltd, India’s secondlargest tractor maker by sales, remained unanswered.

A.S. Mittal, vice-chairman at International Tractors Ltd, the third largest, expects the market to grow by asmuch as 20% at the end of the current fiscal year. The 15-17% growth expected in the current year will bethe highest in two years, said Binaifer F. Jehani, director (industry research) at Crisil Research. A good

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monsoon has helped kharif crops and in turn boosted tractor demand, while an improvement inconstruction and rural infrastructure projects has also has aided growth, Jehani said.

Close to a third of tractors sold in the country are deployed for commercial applications including haulage,construction and infrastructure development work. The rural infra projects augur well for tractor sales as ithelps the farmers utilize tractors optimally and has been one of the reasons for the spike in demand forhigher horsepower tractors, said Pradeep Lokhande, founder of Rural Relations, a rural marketing firm.

In 2014-15, tractor sales in India fell 13% from a year ago to 551,463 units, as poor monsoon led to ruraldistress and sapped demand. Sales fell in 2015-16 as well, declining 11% to 493,764 units. State-runweather forecaster India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on 13 September that 86% of the countryhad normal to excess rainfall during the 1 June to 13 September period, while the rest of the country gotdeficient rain—5% below average since 1 June; with 759.9mm rain vs the normal of 802mm.

The June-to-September monsoon has been normal so far, the IMD said. The north-eastern region receivedthe maximum rainfall (1,111.9mm), while the south peninsular region received the least (545.9mm). Thesowing of kharif (monsoon) crops this year has shown a rise compared with last year. Data with theagriculture ministry shows that 105.4 million hectares have been planted under different kharif crops so far,an increase of 4.16% from the area sown by this time last year. Farm incomes could rise by double digits,after three years of decline, in FY17, supported by an increase in net sown area, higher yield andsupportive prices, said a JM Financial Institutional Securities Ltd report.

Due to a lower penetration rate, tractor sales in southern India, including Telangana and Andhra Pradesh,will rise 35-37% as compared to 18-20% in western India, 11% in eastern and 4% in northern India, saidCrisil’s Jehani. The industry has seen robust sales in the states—Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telanganaand West Bengal. The major reason for the decline in the northern region, said M&M’s Jejurikar, is thedelay in the monsoon, which has impacted the sowing of kharif crops. “Now that the rains have caught upacross the country, we should see a good growth in all states,” he said.

Farm Mechanisation In India- How MP Is transforming itsagriculture sector through custom hiring centresGupta P, Swarajya, New Delhi, 16 September 2016, http://www.swarajyamag.com

That farm mechanisation helps in increasing production, profitability and productivity is now an establishedfact. However, in India, the popular belief has been that mechanisation reduces employment opportunity forskilled and unskilled labour. This, coupled with fragmented farm holding and lack of awareness, has resultedin low farm mechanisation in the country.

The situation is dire. With over 55% of the country’s manual labour involved in agriculture, the sector onlycontributes 14% to the GDP. The average size of farm holdings in the country is declining, falling from 2.28

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ha in 1970-71 to 1.16 ha in 2010-11. Compared tothis, the average size of farms in the United Stateswas 177 ha in 2013. With smaller farms, thepurchasing capacity of the farmers falls significantlyand owning costly machines no longer remains aviable option.

A report published by the National Bank for Agricultureand Rural Development breaks the myth. Accordingto the report, mechanisation in India, contrary topopular belief, has generated employment for ruralyouth. Punjab, the report states, employs 7.0 lakhlabourers from adjoining states, out of which 3.5 lakhare employed on a regular basis and remaining during the main cropping season. Total farm poweravailability has increased from 0.25 kW/ha in 1951 with animate power contributing 97.4 percent to 1.15kW/ha in 1997 with animate sources contributing only 22.7 percent, mechanical sources 43.5 percent andelectrical sources 33.8 percent.

While Punjab has seen significant success, farmers in different parts of India still remain bogged down withtraditional farming methods. Unavailability of modern equipment still remains an issue. In an attempt tomake costly farm equipment available to small farmers in Madhya Pradesh, the state government has beenhelping rural youth in setting up equipment hiring centres. The initiative is in line with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s ‘per drop, more crop’ initiative for increasing productivity.

Here is how the hiring centres help:

* Centres buy equipment with assistance from the state government and make it available for smallfarmers in their area.

* For handling accounts and equipment, the centres hire youth from the village. This provides employmentopportunity to local youth.

* Availability of machines reduces the farmer’s dependence on traditional farming practices and manuallabour.

* Mechanisation lowers the cost of cultivation and increases farm productivity. These factors, in turn,increase the farmer’s profit.

* Rural youth with an undergraduate degree can apply for grants under the scheme. While a totalinvestment of Rs 25 lakh is what it takes, the applicant is only required to place margin money of Rs 5lakh. The government subsidises 40% of the total cost, to a maximum amount of 10 lakh, and bankloans are provided to cover the remaining cost.

Centres are designed and developed to cover around 300 farmers in a radius of 10 kilometres. Thegovernment limits the number of centres to keep the venture profitable. Over 1,205 farmers are currentlyrunning such centres in Madhya Pradesh and similar models are being tried and tested in other statesincluding Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh. A recent report published in the Livemint shares varioussuccess stories and can be read here.

Govt allots Rs 2.55 crore to encourage horticulture farmingTimes of India, Trichy, 18 September 2016, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

The state government will provide subsidy to farmers engaged in horticulture in the district under theNational Horticulture Mission. The project is to be executed at an estimated cost of Rs 2.55 crore. Themission has been implemented in 22 districts across the state at an outlay of Rs 91.72 crore for raisingvarious crops.

A sum of Rs 54.34 lakh has been sanctioned with 40 per cent subsidy for cultivation of crops such asmango, guava, banana, chilli and jasmine in 360 acres in the district, a press release from the districtcollectorate said. A sum of Rs 50.77 lakh has been allotted for establishing greenhouse farming in 30 acreswith 50 per cent subsidy. Besides, to improve the yield of horticulture crops, the scheme includes ad-vanced irrigation techniques, providing farm equipment and power drillers, usage of pesticides, post cultiva-tion techniques and vermicompose production. For that the government has allotted Rs 11.8 lakh with 25per cent subsidy.

There was also a plan to establish infrastructure to execute the process of post-harvest management,which includes packaging of crops and storage facility for onion crop with 50 per cent subsidy, the releaseadded.Marketing is an important process to sell the crops produced by the farmers. For that the horticul-ture department will establish rural markets, retail outlets and also mobile shops in the district with the

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participation of agricultural produce market committee. Interested committees may approach the concerneddepartment authorities, the release said. A total of Rs 34 lakh has been sanctioned for Trichy district for thepurpose.

Interested persons may contact the deputy director, horticulture department by dialing 0431-2421644 andget further details to utilize the state government's various schemes, subsidies and expertise, districtcollector KS Palanisamy said in the statement.

Rs. 14.37-lakh subsidy for buying farm equipmentThe Hindu, Nagercoil, 18 September 2016, http://www.thehindu.com

The State government has allocated Rs. 14.37 lakh as subsidy to farmers for buying farm equipment inKanniyakumari district. A release issued by Collector Sajjansingh R. Chavan said that the Chief Ministerhad announced on the floor of the assembly that the State government has allocated Rs. 31.06 crore assubsidy to farmers for buying various farm equipment through the Agriculture Engineering department.Small, marginal, Adi Dravidar, Tribals and women farmers would be given a 50 per cent subsidy and forothers it would be 40 per cent or the maximum rate fixed by the government whichever is lower.

Farmers can buy the equipment from the dealers approved by the Agricultural Engineering department.Intending farmers can obtain the application form from the office of the Executive Engineer (AgriculturalEngineering) in Nagercoil or from the concerned office of the Assistant Executive Engineer. The filled inapplications should be submitted along with two copies of passport size photos, photocopy of Aadhar Card,Chitta Adangal, layout of the land, certificate of small and marginal farmer, community certificate, registra-tion certificate if the equipment had to be attached with tractor.

For further details farmers can contact the office of the Assistant Executive Engineer, Agricultural Engineer-ing, 833, Industrial Estate, Konam, Nagercoil 629004, Tel: 04652 260681 and Assistant Executive Engineer,Agricultural Engineering, 22/31A Mettukkadai, near Mosque, Thuckalay, Pincode 629175, the releaseadded.

Sonalika tractors parent to file for Rs. 2,000 crore IPO byearly OctoberDhanjal SS, HT LiveMint, Mumbai, 19 September 2016, http://www.livemint.com

Private equity firm Blackstone to partially sell investment in International Tractors Ltd, owner of theSonalika brand, in initial share sale

Delhi-based International Tractors, the third-largest maker oftractors in the country, has around Rs1,400-1,500 crore in cash onits balance sheet and doesn’t need to raise capital. InternationalTractors Ltd (ITL), the owners of the Sonalika brand, is planning tofile draft documents for an initial share sale with the regulator byearly next month, said three people aware of the development. Theshare sale, in which private equity firm Blackstone will partially sellits investment in ITL, is expected to fetch as much as Rs2,000crore, they said, requesting anonymity.

“The company is looking to file the draft red herring prospectus bythe end of September or latest by early October,” said one of the three people cited above. “The IPO is apure offer for sale and no primary capital will be raised by the company.” Delhi-based ITL, the third-largestmaker of tractors in the country, has around Rs1,400-1,500 crore in cash on its balance sheet and doesn’tneed to raise capital, the person said. Mint had reported in December that ITL had initiated discussions withinvestment banks for an IPO. Blackstone Group Lp invested $100 million for a 12.5% stake in the companyin 2012.

ITL has hired Goldman Sachs, ICICI Securities and Kotak Mahindra Capital to manage the share sale, saidthe second person cited above. “The good monsoon this year will be helping a lot of Indian corporates withdirect connect to the agricultural and rural economy, such as irrigation infrastructure, farm equipment liketractors, seed development and food processing. The impact of the monsoon will be seen in improved salesfor these companies in the coming quarters,” said Manish Begrajka, executive director at investment bankEuromax Capital, adding that farmer incomes will see an increase, which will aid rural demand.

The tractor maker had sales close to Rs4,000 crore in 2014-15, according to the third person. “Thecompany has been setting up a new production facility with a capacity of 40,000 units, which will take its

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production capacity to 100,000 units a year,” he said, adding that the company has robust export sales. Thefiling of the draft IPO documents comes as tractor makers expect a sales revival on the back of a goodmonsoon after back-to-back drought years. In 2014-15, tractor sales in India fell 13% from a year ago to551,463 units as a poor monsoon led to reduction in farm incomes. Sales fell in 2015-16 as well, decliningaround 11% to 493,764 units.

Mint reported on 15 September that most tractor makers have raised their sales growth projections for 2016-17 to 15-17% from 10%. Sales are expected to rise most in the south, followed by eastern and northernstates owing to lower tractor penetration in these regions and government-led schemes to supportagriculture. Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd is looking at industry sales growth of 13%, 14%, 15% and 16% inthe four quarters of fiscal year 2017, respectively, Pawan Goenka, executive director and group president(auto and farm sector) at India’s largest tractor maker, said in a conference call with analysts on 9 August.

“The last quarter was one of the best that we have seen when it comes to tractor industry. Of course, wehad expected it to be good, but it was perhaps even better than what we had thought it might be,” he said.The ITL IPO also comes as Blackstone seeks to sell several of its India investments.

The investor, which established its office in India in August 2005, has since then committed over $5 billion inthe country. Its corporate PE arm invests out of Blackstone Capital Partners VI global fund, which has acorpus of $16.2 billion. The PE arm of Blackstone in India has committed around $2 billion in India. In 2015,the fund exited two of its private investments Agile Electric and CMS Info.

‘Our effort is for multiple usage of tractors’HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times, Chandigarh, 20 September 2016, http://www.hindustantimes.com

With bumper paddy crop expected this kharif season,the tractor manufacturing companies are expecting tosee the boost in sales by at least 15%, as compared toyearly average sales, after a lean patch of two yearswhen four crops were damaged. Last year 23,000tractors were sold in rural Punjab and this year manufac-turers are expecting the joint sales to touch 26,500.

In the light of a study conducted by Punjab agriculturedepartment that says the state’s agrarian economy isover dependent on tractors, with their number increasingwith falling number of acres in a family, and tractors areutilised for work just 396 hours in a year, Viren Popli,chief operating officer of Mahindra and Mahindra, Swaraj division, spoke to HT. Excerpts from an inter-view:

The farmers in Punjab have more number of tractors than required. Your views on this?Punjab’s agrarian economy is largely based on wheat and paddy crops, which are labour intensive, for 15days to a month the crop has to be harvested, sorted and taken to mandis. With MNERGA scheme offeringassured work to the labour, state faces labour shortage so dependence is on mechanised farming andtractor is a pivot for all the machines and implements used in agriculture. One can’t reject the role of tractorsin the green revolution. Also it gives a sense of security and is a status symbol.

How do you plan to make your tractors more saleable?I think farmers need better equipped tractors with more implements. Our challenge is also to bring moreimplements that make farming mechanised and easy. We are making our machines compatible torotavators, cultivators, and other implements, powerful to pull loaded trolleys and also make them useable inrunning tube wells. Also with changing times we are coming up with devices and machines that help inprecision farming.

What are the challenges a tractor manufacturer faces?Our efforts to sell tractors are questioned. Yet I think the penetration of the machine is very low. Punjabcomprises 10% market, in 2013-14, 6 lakh tractors were sold in the country but sales came down to 4.93lakh the next year. Our challenge is to increase the utility of a tractor bought by a farmer and make itstronger and robust. Life of a tractor is 5 to 7 years, but farmers use it for much longer time.

Agricultural experts recommend cooperative usage of tractors and implements to cut down inputcost. How are you helping the farmers?We are launching Tringo scheme in Karnataka initially, in which we have spared 40 tractors to be offered tofarmers along with operators. The farmers can fix appointment for a tractor, get his works done and verynominal charges would be taken from him. We will expand the scheme to other parts of the country.

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Expect double-digit revenue growth in FY17: VST TillersMoney Control, Bangalore, 20 September 2016, http://www.moneycontrol.com

Tractor sales improved in the month of August and expect the same to continue inSeptember as well, says KU Subbaiah, CEO of VST Tillers Tractors . He furthersaid that tillers contribute 60 percent to the overall revenue. Therefore, expect areasonable double-digit revenue growth in FY17. Below is the verbatim transcript ofKU Subbaiah’s interview to Nigel D’Souza & Reema Tendulkar.

Nigel: For this quarter it seems you have done close to around 70 percent ofwhat you did in the last quarter. What is the trajectory going ahead and alsoit is good to see that the tractor sales have started picking up, currently ataround 810 units. Are you confident that you can see an increase in thetractor sales and also what kind of capacity utilisations are you targetingfrom the tractor business?A: We see that the tractor sales are improving. It improved in the month of Augustand we also expect the same thing in September. The fundamental reason is in theQ1, our tractor sales were not in-line with our expectations only due to the reasonof delay in onset of monsoon in Maharashtra and Gujarat.

However, in Q2 we seem to have picked up because though the monsoon arrived late, now there seems tobe some positive sentiment amongst the farmers to purchase the new tractors. So, we would see a goodnumber in September as well.In case power tillers, in Q1 we did reasonably well but in Q2 it has not pickedup fundamentally because of the monsoon failures in some of the states but mainly because of the delay inreleasing of subsidy schemes in some of the states.

Reema: Could you elaborate more what is the outstanding subsidy and when do you expect thepayment coming in from that and when should we expect a pickup in your tillers business?A: First of all it is not 85 percent of revenues that come from tillers; it is about 60 percent of the revenue thatcomes from tillers. Two, the delays in releasing subsidies has been in Andhra Pradesh which was supposeto have got released in Q1 but started releasing only now.

However, by the time they started releasing the subsidies the season is almost done. So, there has been alow pickup. Even in the state of Gujarat, though it is on direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme but the subsidyscheme is yet to be announced and most probably it should be done during in this month, as my field teamhas been telling. In Odisha there was a delay in the subsidy but now it has got released. However, as I saidthe season is getting over now, only in the next season it would pickup. So, what we foresee is the tillerswill be able to make up the numbers in the second half of the year.

Nigel: The street is more focused on your tractors business, I want to know you were telling us thatyou are likely to see a pickup in capacities going ahead and sales as well. So, what is yourtargeted capacity utilisations for this fiscal and tell us what is the total capacity, I think it is around30,000-35,000 units approximately and your market share as well has been increasing. I think itwas at around 5.5 percent at least in the 30 HP segment and it moved up to around 13-14 percent,where are you headed on that front?A: First I will talk about the capacity, our assembly capacity is about 36,000 units per year and right nowour capacity utilisation is around 30 percent. This is the capacity which we have built for the future as we arecoming up and launching new models. One of the reasons is that we have launched this new 27 HP tractorwhich is well accepted in the market and so far in this year we have sold around 500 units. As we aretalking the demand for this product category is quite good and now we see that these numbers will keep onincreasing. And that is fundamentally why in the 0-30 HP segment our market share is going up and weexpect that this market share will continue to go up in coming months as well.

Reema: What does this all mean for your FY17 revenues as well as margins because in Q1 yourmargins got hit really badly?A: In Q1 we grew marginally by 7-8 percent in terms of revenues but by the end of the year we will be in-linewith the industry growth. I would say that we will be close to double digit growth by the end of this year if thesame sentiment continues and the north east monsoon will not be a failure or a disappointment.

The driverless tractor, other devices from Mahindra’s cabinetof curiositiesRaj A, HT LiveMint, New Delhi, 22 September 2016, http://www.livemint.com

Mahindra has always been open to new ideas. It is India’s only maker of electric cars and is developing a

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home-made luxury car under the Pininfarina brand

New Delhi: A two-wheeler that can turn into a three-wheeler or four-wheeler on demand and a sentient carthat can assess the driver’s mood—these are some of the ideas that have come out of Mahindra andMahindra Ltd’s secretive Blue Lab. Mahindra has always been open to new ideas. It is India’s only maker ofelectric cars and is developing a home-made luxury car under the Pininfarina brand.

According to Pawan Goenka, executive director of Mahindra and Mahindra, the company’s Aero conceptshowcased at the 2016 Auto Expo was one such idea that came out of the Blue Lab. Aero showcasesMahindra’s XUV 5OO sports utility vehicle in the format of a coupe—a term largely associated with luxurybrands—and turned a lot of heads. Mahindra’s experiments and innovations extend beyond the Blue Lab.One such is an autonomous tractor, Goenka said (but more on that in a bit).

First, the Blue Lab. - Started in April 2015, the lab takes the form of an institutionalized and scheduledbrainstorming session. It hosts a community of innovators and meets thrice a year with the objective ofcreating a physical proof of concept of some of the id eas.

Goenka describes the physical forms that are the logical denouement of the ideas as devices, not vehiclesas one would expect him to. The idea is to “just let the imagination go wild”, said Goenka. For instance,one brief given to the innovators was to “develop a device, not for commuting or adventure, but leisure”.

Members of the Blue Lab include Frenchman Alain Giraud, who has spent 40 years in innovation at RenaultSA, ending his association with the Carlos Ghosn-led company as director of Renault LCI (CooperativeInnovation Laboratory) and the father of Twizy, an electric car; Jean-Luc Thuliez of Switzerland, a serialinnovator and founder and chief executive of Domteknika (an engineering company), Aventor Motorsport andSoftcar, which develops high-technology electric vehicle prototypes; Lee Keshav, a racing driver and formerdesign head at Hike messenger; and Latika Neelakantan, a semiologist and qualitative researcher withexpertise in cultural anthropology and ethnography. Exciting as the idea of a sentient vehicle is, it isdriverless ones that have captured human imagination. Earlier this week, the US released guidelines forself-driving cars.

Mahindra, India’s largest tractor maker, has understandably focused on a driverless tractor. There are threestages in the development of such a tractor, Goenka explained. The first is to see how the driver of such avehicle (or user of such a device) can be directed by technology; the second is to develop a vehicle thatpretty much drives itself, although it has a driver (just in case); and the third is to create an entirely autono-mous tractor that drives itself and has no driver.

Mahindra has readied two prototypes (one for each of the two stages) that Goenka reviewed last week atthe Mahindra Research Valley (MRV) in Chennai. “We are seriously looking at it. I was in MRV two daysago and I saw prototypes of two of these three things that I talked about, but from a first prototype toproduction is a long march. So, we will work on it. It is too early to say whether we launch it in one year orsix years. But work is going on,” he added.

Sonalika unveils 120 HP tractor Solis 120ETAuto, Ludhiana, 23 September 2016, http://auto.economictimes.indiatimes.com

The new ‘Solis 120’ is ergonomically designed to cater to the evolving need of the end user featur-ing 6 cylinder engine.

Sonalika International Tractors has showcased India's first indigenous 120 HP tractor, 'Solis 120' for globalmarket at Kisan Mela. The new 'Solis 120' is ergonomically designed to cater to the evolving need of theend user featuring 6 cylinder engine. With 4500KG lifting capacity, 'Solis 120' can be deployed into multi-purpose usages from agriculture, haulage and infrastructure requirements.

Speaking at the event, DL Rana, Director Sales & Marketing,Sonalika ITL said, "The Solis 120 is designed in keepingfarmers comfort and demand of rugged and agile performanceof the machine, which can work for longer durations. Throughthis 120 HP tractor, the company is focusing on commercialfarmers & cooperative farming solutions by providing an easein doing arduous work."

Sonalika ITL also displayed its specialized range of tractorsat the fair. The display included an extensive range of DI 30Baagban Super, along with RX 745 III Potato Special, Rx 60MM Super Potato Special, Rx 750 III HDM, RX 60, WT 60-4WD and WT 90 (AC cabin) tractors, showcasing the best inagri - machinery.

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Vivek Goyal, Zonal Head, Punjab and Haryana, Sonalika ITL added "PAU mela is an important platform forus to connect with farmers and update them with new technologies used in tractors that would make theirlife simpler. From past few years we are continuously participating here to understand evolving needs of thefamers and use their inputs for the enhancement of our products."

Mahindra invests in online agri-retail start-up Merakisan.comNithin D, RTN Asia, Mumbai, 28 September 2016, http://rtn.asia

Mahindra & Mahindra´s agri solutionscompany Mahindra Univeg Pvt Ltd. saidit has invested in Merakisan PVt. Ltd.,an agri e-commerce start-up. MahindraUniveg Pvt Ltd. is a 60:40 joint venturebetween Mahindra Agri Solutions Ltd.and and Belgium based Univeg(Greenyard Foods). It focuses ondeveloping fresh fruit supply chain inIndia and imports fruits to make highquality produce available to domesticconsumers.

“Merakisan’s business model augmentsdisintermediation at various levels in the fruits and vegetables delivery value chain, directly benefitting thefarmer and the end consumer,” the company said. Merakisan Pvt. Ltd. shall operate in sourcing fruits,vegetables and other agricultural produce directly from farmers and sell to customers, facilitated by a digitaltechnology platform.

The website allows users to purchase the products and have it home delivered. “Our investment (minorityshareholding) in Merakisan will enable the farmers and the consumers to connect digitally and create a win-win,” Ashok Sharma, MD & CEO., Mahindra Agri Solutions Ltd.

“Leveraging our digital platform, Merakisan Pvt. Ltd. will ensure delivery of high quality fruits & vegetables atthe door step of the consumer. I am sure that this initiative will be a trendsetter in creating value for theIndian farming community,” said, Prashanth Patil, CEO-Designate of MeraKisan Pvt. Ltd.

Mahindra Agri Solutions interacts with farmers to improve their produce, quality and productivity by providinglatest advances in farm technologies and agricultural know how. It also helps farmers by linking them to themarket to provide better returns for their quality produce and thereby improving their lives.

The Mahindra Group focuses on enabling people to rise through solutions that power mobility, drive ruralprosperity, enhance urban lifestyles and increase business efficiency. Mahindra & Mahindra is a $17.8 billionmultinational group based in Mumbai, India. It has 200,000 employees in over 100 countries. Mahindraoperates in the key industries such as tractors, utility vehicles, information technology, financial services,agribusiness, defence, commercial veh?cles, two wheeler industries, etc.

In 2015, Mahindra & Mahindra was recognized as the Best Company for CSR in India in a study by theEconomic Times. In 2014, Mahindra featured on the Forbes Global 2000, a comprehensive listing of theworld’s largest, most powerful public companies, as measured by revenue, profit, assets and market value.The Mahindra Group also received the Financial Times Boldness in Business Award in the Emerging Mar-kets’ category in 2013.

Escorts tractor sales up 37.8% in September

PTI, Business Standard, New Delhi, 03 October 2016, http://www.business-standard.com

Domestic sales were at 7,664 units as against 5,576 units in September lastyear.

Farm equipment maker Escorts on Monday reported 37.8 per cent increase in itstractor sales at 7,725 units in September. The company had posted tractor salesof 5,606 units in the same month last year, Escorts Ltd said in a BSE filing.

Domestic sales were at 7,664 units as against 5,576 units in September lastyear, up 37.4 per cent. During the month, exports were at 61 units compared to30 in the year-ago period, a jump of 103.3 per cent.

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Mahindra tractor sales zoom 69 per cent in SeptemberPTI, The Economic Times, New Delhi, 03 October 2016, http://economictimes,indiatimes.com

Home-grown auto major Mahindra and MahindraBSE 0.31 % today reported a 68.97 per cent jump in totaltractor sales at 30,562 units in September. The company had sold 18,087 units in the same month last year.Domestic tractor sales rose 70.27 per cent to 29,035 units in September as against 17,052 in the year-agomonth, the company said in a statement. Exports during the month also rose by 47.53 per cent to 1,527units compared with 1,035 in the same month a year ago, it added. On sales outlook, M&M President andChief Executive, Farm Equipment and Two-wheeler Division, Rajesh Jejurikar said: "We expect the goodmomentum to continue with the upcoming festive season and the effect of a good monsoon."

New Agriculture Equipment Testing Centres to come up soonRozindar F, The Hindu,Vijayapura, 06 October 2016, http://www.thehindu.com

The new agriculture tool centres in Vijayapura and Shivamogga districts will help manufacturers obtaincertification for selling or availing government subsidies in anexpedited manner.— Photo: Rajendra SinghHajeri. The centres, in Vijayapura and Shivamogga, will cost Rs. 1.5 crore each. Aiming to expedite thecertification process for agriculture equipment designed by various manufacturers, the Agriculture Ministry ofthe Union government has granted permis-sion for the setting up of two more Agricul-ture Equipment Testing Centres inKarnataka; one each at Vijayapura and atShivamogga.

The centres will come up at the cost of Rs.1.5 crore each. They will help manufactur-ers obtain certification for selling or availinggovernment subsidies. “So far, the Statehas only two such centres; one atBengaluru and another at Raichur. How-ever, these centres are over-burdened ason an average, around 65-70 agenciesapply for certification annually. In order toreduce this burden and help agencies, twomore centres have been granted permis-sion. They will cover 14 districts of Northand Central Karnataka,” said. B. Anuraja,assistant professor and expert in farmpower and machinery, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad. Speaking to The Hindu, he said that theprimary job of a centre is to test the performance, quality and feasibility of the equipment manufactured bythe agencies.

“The rigorous tests and issuing of certificates take around one year to complete. During the tests, weassess the equipment on various parameters. If we find any shortcomings, then we not only deny certifica-tion, but also offer suggestions on how the equipment could be improved before recertification can besought,” he said. Dr. Anuraja said that no agency can avail subsidy benefits from the government without thecertificate issued by the centre. He added that the fee for certification varies between Rs. 22,000 and Rs.80,000 based on the type of machines. The equipment can be human-driven, cattle-driven, tractor-driven orprototype,” he said. He said that the government has reserved Rs. 1 crore for the purchase of testing equip-ment and tools and Rs. 50 lakh for building the centres. “In Vijayapura, we are establishing the centre at theRegional Agriculture Research Station, Hittanahalli, and have begun the preliminary work,” he said.

Two yearsDr. Anuraja said that both centres are expected to resume full-fledged operations within two years and addedthat after the commissioning, it would be easy for the agencies of 14 districts to carry their equipment totheir nearby centre instead of going to Bengaluru or Raichur.

M&M, TAFE lookto rev up the tractor marketNarasimhan TE, Business Standard, Chennai/ Mumbai, 11 October 2016, http://www.business-standard.com

In what is perhaps a first for the Indian tractor market, the Chennai-based Tractors and Farm Equipment(TAFE) is putting in place a premiumisation strategy for its tractors. Primarily a commodity market and one

The new agriculture tool centres in Vijayapura andShivamogga districts will help manufacturers obtaincertification for selling or availing government subsidiesin anexpedited manner.

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Turnover for happenings elsewhere!

in steady decline, tractor consumption in the country has traditionallybeen determined by the state of the monsoon and the power and priceof the product. But TAFE, by bringing in brand variations — it recentlylaunched a new ‘smart series’ range of tractors and India’s firstpremium compact utility tractor under the Massey Ferguson brand —is looking to engage consumers with more than just price-led promo-tions. But given the nature of consumption in rural India, the challengewill be to convince customers of the differentiation strategy at work.

“We are positioning Massey Ferguson brand to showcase our technol-ogy, while Eicher brand for its robust performance,” said MallikaSrinivasan, chairman and chief executive, TAFE. Designed to appeal to the young consumer, ‘smart series’tractors come in the 40hp-60hp range. TAFE has three brands — Massey Ferguson, Eicher and TAFE. The firsttwo are sold in the domestic market and the TAFE branded tractors are for export markets like Africa, SriLanka, Bangladesh and parts of Europe. “I believe we are creating a new segment, given the evolving needs ofyoung farmers and their changing expectations with regards to versatility and ease of use, through the year,”said Srinivasan.

Not far behind is Mahindra &Mahindara (M&M), the market leader in tractors and farm equipment. The companyhas two main tractor brands — Mahindra and Swaraj — driving majority of the sales. The Mumbai-basedcompany recently introduced two new sub-brands — Novo and Yuvo —which according to senior companyofficials will not just become the mainstay of the Mahindra brand of tractors but also usher in a new way ofdenoting and distinguishing models.

From branding the vehicles on the basis of specific names (like Sarpanch or Bhumiputra as has been the case)M&M has adopted an alphanumeric way for branding tractors. Rajesh Jejurikar, president and chief executive,tractor and farm mechanisation, M&M said, “We had several brands in the past and some of them still remainbecause they serve specific markets or customers. Model brands remain always important. In Swaraj we followthe numeric way such as 755, 724 or 825 and in M&M we do both alphanumeric and sub brand concept. Weare now moving to (Arjun) Novo which is a new platform which has and will continue to have alphanumericbranding.” Make no mistake M&M also has other brands such as Shaktiman, Yuvraj, Arjun and Hindustan.Each caters to either specific markets (such as Gujarat) or a specific segment (entry/budget segment). But thetrend of having a sharp and differentiated branding strategies to woo consumers within a segment or a region,common in cars and the sports utility vehicles segment, has emerged only recently.

In the tractor market, branding took the front seat when two Italian heavyweights Ferrari and Lamborghini knownfor their exotic supercars launched tractors under their name-sake brands in India three years ago. Their entrysparked off a rethink among existing players and also helped discover new customers in a market that wasseen as old and jaded by most players. Manufacturers say that tractor buyers today are not the same as tenyears ago. “These buyers drive anything from Hondas to even Mercedes-Benz, have iPhones and take their kidsto a multiplex or a shopping mall on a weekend to a city near them. They therefore want a tractor that suits theirlifestyle and nothing less. This is where brand segmentation comes in”, said another senior executive fromM&M. Mahindra has even launched the country’s first tractor with an air-conditioned driver cabin.

Tractor makers are buoyed by the good monsoon this year and expect robust growth after two successiveyears of slowdown. New product launches by M&M and TAFE have been strategically planned to hit the marketat the right time to cash in on the boom. M&M for instance reported a jump of 28 per cent in domestic tractorsales during April-September at 1.29 lakh units as against 1.01 lakh units sold in the same period last year.TAFE has adopted an initiative labeled ‘walking in the villages’ where its brand team introduces its products tothe customer, allowing him to experience the product both on the field and in his farm.

Jejurikar added that he is confident of the industry ending the year with a growth of 15 per cent compared to lastyear’s sales when volumes had dipped by 11 per cent. On the back of new launches and robust demand M&Mhas increased market share by 2.6 per cent to 43.3 per cent.

Meanwhile TAFE is banking on new technology and innovations, for which it had invested over ~350 crore in thelast three-four years. It is also planning to launch two new platforms under the Eicher brand. “The good mon-soon is a huge positive and an improvement has been noted in the kharif acreage. The agriculture sectorperformance is likely to pick up giving an impetus to rural consumption,” says industry body Ficci.

The tractor market may not be as cut-throat as the car or SUV segment but given the government push topromote better irrigation methods and improve rural and farm infrastructure, tractor makers are leaving no stoneunturned to attract the buyer.

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INTERNATIONAL

Kioti returns to UK market with the 105hp PX1053Jones J, Farmers Weekly, Cambridgeshire,

15 September 2016, http://www.fwi.co.uk

Kioti has launched its biggest-ever tractorand, at the same time, revealed a newimport deal that will see the Korean firm’smachinery sold through a newly formedcompany called Kioti UK. The tractorswere previously imported by the nowdefunct Reco business but despite thecompany claiming a top market share insome parts of the world, machines in theUK have been few and far between.

The company promises to bring plenty ofspec to the small tractor market, but notnecessarily the cheap prices that some buyers might expect. The range-topping PX1053 is 105hp and usesthe same 3.4-litre Doosan block featured in the latest Massey Ferguson telehandlers, replacing the Perkinsunits used in previous machines.

AdBlue and a DPF take care of emissions for the first time on KIOTI machines, although filter regenerationcan be postponed if necessary. Drive is directed through a Kioti-made 32-speed gearbox in the biggestmodel, while others in the line-up use a 24-speeder and the smallest versions have a hydrostatictransmission.

Kioti UK is yet to announce prices for the top-end units, but the company has warned potential buyers notto expect basement prices given the high level of standard spec – air-conditioning, two double-acting spoolsand loader brackets with a factory-fitted joystick are all part of the package.

The company will also be selling the Mechron UTV, which has traditionally been Kioti’s volume seller on UKshores. It comes with a 22hp diesel engine, bench seat and the option of a double-cab set-up. Themachines are mid-table as far as prices go, with things kicking off at £12,750, while the double cab comesin at £14,850.

Massey Ferguson introduces the world’s first 200hp four-cylinder tractorJones J, Farmers Weekly, Kenilworth, 18 September 2016, http://www.fwi.co.uk

Massey Ferguson haveintroduced its 6700 S Series,which includes the world’s first200hp, four-cylinder agriculturaltractor.

The latest machines arepowered by a new Agco Power4.9 litre, four-cylinder blockwhich can be configured from120hp to 175hp.See also:Fendt adds extra features to its500-series Vario tractors

The engine has an extendedservice interval of 600 hoursand complies with the strictTier 4 final emissionregulations, using selectivecatalytic reduction and a diesel oxidation catalytic (DOC) converter system with an electronically controlledturbo.

Catalysts are hidden in the oval-shaped exhaust, and the DOC under the bonnet to help visibility.

For the first time, the continuously variable transmission box Massey calls Dyna-VT is now available from130hp. Its 16×16 Eco transmission is now an option on all models and delivers 40kph at 1,850rpm.

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When in the field,Speedsteer automaticallyincreases the steering ratio.

The compact 2.67mwheelbase and a turningradius of 4.75m makes theMF 6718 S the mostmanoeuvrable 200hp tractoron the market.

It’s also 500kg lighter thansix-cylinder equivalents.

Flowrates of up to 190 litre/min are available from theload-sensing system andup to five rear hydraulicvalves can be specified onall Dyna-VT models.

Rear couplers are equippedwith decompression leversas standard to makehooking up a tad easier.

Front-mounted implementsare catered for with up totwo independent fronthydraulic valves plus adedicated front linkagevalve.

Rear linkage lift capacity isboosted to 9,600kg onDyna-VT models (compared with 8,600kg on the MF 6600 Series).

The 6700 is equipped with a new active mechanical cab suspension, which is said to reduce heave/pitchand roll movements compared with the old system, and reacts according to vehicle behaviour.

Inside, the cabs include the same colour dashboard as the range-topping MF 8700 as well as the new set-up and information system, and not happy with just one, Massey offer a long list of axillary screen, auto-steer and Isobus options.

AGCO’s Martin Richenhagen reappointed to PresidentObama’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in AfricaBusiness Wire, Duluth, 20 September 2016, http://www.businesswire.com

AGCO Corporation, a world-leading manufacturer and distributor of agriculturalequipment, announced today that Martin Richenhagen, Chairman, President andCEO of AGCO, has been reappointed to the President’s Advisory Council onDoing Business in Africa (PAC-DBIA). U.S. Department of Commerce SecretaryPenny Pritzker announced earlier today the 23 business executives appointed tothe Council. All appointed members have been invited to participate in the U.S.-Africa Business Forum held in New York on September 21.

Secretary Penny Pritzker: “I am pleased to reappoint Mr. Richenhagen to thePresident’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa. His experience andcounsel help us to strengthen commercial engagement between the UnitedStates and Africa.” This is the second time that Mr. Richenhagen has been selected to serve on the Councilfor a two-year term. “I’m very proud to support the President’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa,”said Mr. Richenhagen. “AGCO has been doing business in Africa for many decades. We focus onmechanization, grain storage, protein production and financing solutions. In addition, we are also providinglocal farmers with education and training in core agricultural practices. Africa will play a significant role in thefuture of global food security and therefore it is vital to move African agriculture forward. We have taken onthe challenge to transform African agriculture into a highly productive, efficient, competitive and sustainable

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system.”

AGCO offers high-tech agricultural solutions for professional farmers feeding the world. Its comprehensiveproduct line, global reach and technological solutions help farmers to be more productive and efficient. InAfrica, AGCO has invested in manufacturing capabilities in Algeria and in improving distribution and partssupport in South Africa. In Zambia, AGCO has launched its first Future Farm to train local farmers anddealers in modern farm practices. AGCO also hosts the annual AGCO Africa Summit (http://www.agco-africa-summit.com) to promote international investments in African agriculture.

Mr. Richenhagen joined AGCO 12 years ago as President and CEO, and in August 2006 he was appointedto Chairman of the Board. Mr. Richenhagen’s career has spanned a wide range of executive and managingdirectorships positions. In addition to currently serving as the Chairman of the German American Chambersof Commerce of the U.S. (GACCs), Mr. Richenhagen is also a member of the U.S. Chamber of CommerceBoard of Directors. He has served as Chairman of the Board of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers(AEM) and is a Life Honorary Director of AEM.

New tillage range, promise of more horsepower as KubotaexpandsLaw J, The Weekly Times, South Bank (Victoria), 20 September 2016, http://www.weeklytimesnow.com

PLANS for a 250hp horsepower tractorwere revealed at the -Kubota dealerconference in Sydney last week as theorange brand flexed its muscle inAustralia.

The conference introduced a range ofKverneland tillage equipment -rebrandedas Kubota to the Kubota Tractors Australiadealer network and outlined plans forglobal -expansion.

Representatives from Kverneland and KTAtalked about the partnership that will seeorange seeding and tillage gear offeredalongside the new M7 middleweight tractorthat has landed in the country.

And Kubota is not afraid to bloody a few noses as it jostles for market share and room in dealer yards wherethey sit alongside Case IH and New Holland products.

Until the introduction of the M7, its under-100hp range was tolerated by CNH, which was more focused onmid and high-horsepower tractors in Australia. When asked if he thought there would be conflict with CNH,KTA managing director Toshihiko Kawasaki said, “of course”. “I think the dealer feels pressure from CNH, butit is the dealers’ and customers’ choice,” Mr Kawasaki said. He said while he believed there was room forthe M7 in the dealer network, the introduction of a new M8 expected to push up to the 250hp bracket wouldmean expansion.

“Up to M7 we are OK, our current dealer organisation can sell enough,” he said. “When we introduce M8,that may be a different story. We may need additional dealers.” It was seen as a bold move for -Kubota thathas been aggressive in the global market since it acquired Kverneland in 2012 to beef up its range of aggear.

To show it is serious, Kubota has poured money into the tillage specialist’s factories to improve production.“We have 10 factories in Europe and Kubota is investing very heavily,” Kverneland Group area director-Marieke Maris said at the conference.

“For instance, in our plough factory 30 million euros was invested in expansion of construction. Today webuild about 5000 ploughs, and the aim from Kubota is in 2020 to have a capacity of 9000 ploughs.” She saidthe rollout of orange Kverneland products in Australia would focus on tillage equipment for this quarter withKubota branded spreaders coming out in January.

This raised questions about a potential conflict with Kverneland’s relationship with Power Farming GroupAustralia, with a contract in place to sell its Kverneland branded hay and forage gear as well as Viconbalers. However, Ms Maris said at this stage there is no change with PFG continuing to sell Kverneland andVicon branded equipment.

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“We respect the history of distribution in Australia, where wecontinue with the forage equipment with PFG under theKverneland brands so there will not be a conflict,” she said. Asfor the long-term future for the distribution in Australia, MsMaris said “time will tell how that will evolve”.

The other tricky relationship in the Kverneland deal is with hayand -silage specialist Krone, which is distributed by KTA.However, Mr Kawasaki said “the policy in hay is to continuewith Krone”.

Among the new equipment showcased at the conference wasKrone’s new trailed 4m mower conditioner that rotates tobecome much nar-rower for transport, negating the need forpermits. Updated zero-turn mowers and a clever four-seatside-by-side vehicle were also presented to the dealers, along with new skid steers and a -loader.

However, most interest was in the new seeding and tillage gear that -included power harrows, pneumaticseed drills, a cultivator, disc harrow and plough. The range is mostly suited to small to medium operationsand pasture seeding and is designed to work -behind the M7 Kubota tractors up to 170hp.

Kubota takes aim for global leadershipWilson K, Farm Online, Victoria, 22 September 2016, http://www.farmweekly.com.au

KUBOTA is the name and growing into a major global brand is thegame. But it's a very serious game witnessed by the company'sacquisition of giant European manufacturer Kverneland Group (2012)and Kansas-based seeding and tillage manufacturer Great Plainsearlier this year. It also has a long-standing partnership with topEuropean hay manufacturer Krone. And last week, more than 180Australian dealers received a taste of the company's plans with anearly 100 product presentation with the promise of more to come.

Kubota's current strategy is to match products with its tractors andat last week the company showcased a line-up of some of its 80implements (seeders, ploughs, cultivators and slashers), two mower-conditioners and five mowers along with construction equipment and a new 4WD diesel utility vehicle orside-by-side vehicle.

According to Kubota Tractor Australia managing director Toshihiko Kawasaki, the company not only wantsto become the world's top manufacturer of agricultural equipment but also the one with the most customers.Mr Kawasaki said Kubota was celebrating its 40th year in Australia while also celebrating a doubling ofbusiness in the past seven years with gross annual revenue climbing from $A150 million to $A300m."Quality will continue to be our number one focus," he said. "And we need to continue to explain that to ourcustomers so they can understand the value that comes with quality."

Mr Kawasaki said he expected Kubota to become a major player in North America and Europe as a full-linesupplier embracing most facets of agriculture, including precision technology. Interestingly, heacknowledged a declining skilled agricultural labour force presented problems for the industry.

To overcome this Kubota has launched a service mentor program involving dealers and senior staff toenhance product education on a wider scale to all dealer staff. According to the company's Australian seniorproduct manager Lars Pasedag, Kubota will move exponentially into the broadacre market.

"That will be down the track," he said. "But we expect more products to match broadacre requirementsgoing forward." And he is keeping an eye on the WA market with regard to building the company'sdealership network in this State.

Deere wants to make your tractor smarterParker M, Chicago Tribune, Texas, 23 September 2016, http://www.chicagotribune.com

Not in the market for a new tractor? Deere & Co. would like to sell you all the equipment to make your olderone smart. With slumping crop prices, the Moline, Illinois-based company is seeking to combat slowingsales by selling farmers bolt-on products -- modems, navigation devices, sensors and software. In theprocess, it's joined the race for a "precision farming" market that could be worth $240 billion by 2050,

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according to Goldman Sachs

Deere's AutoTrac system includes an auto-steering kitand a monitor that lets farmers set the most accuratecourse in fields for planting, applying fertilizer and pestcontrol. It's just one component of the company's ventureinto the world of agriculture technology that promisesgrowers less waste and reduced input costs as they dealwith declining incomes.

"It's an important topic for Deere, the industry andinvestors," Larry De Maria, an analyst at William Blair& Co. in New York, said by phone. "Bigger and faster is no longer the mantra. It's about productivityand efficiency."

What's notable about Deere's technology offerings is that the company is taking an agnostic approach as towhether new devices are added to tractors made by competitors. On its website, the company touts thatthe AutoTrac Universal 200 package is available in a variety of colors -- not just Deere's iconic green andyellow. That approach underscores how much the company's fortunes are tied to the financial health offarmers. Prices for corn, the biggest U.S. crop, are on pace for a fourth straight annual decline and reacheda seven-year low of $3.1475 a bushel in Chicago last month. Futures traded at $3.34 on Friday. In thisenvironment, many growers aren't willing to purchase new tractors that can cost around $360,000 and areeither squeezing production out of existing equipment or turning to auctions for used tractors and combinesthat cost half as much. The slump for crop prices means analysts expect Deere's profit for its fiscal yearthat ends next month will fall to the lowest since 2009.

Deere is moving toward a "holistic" strategy of selling parts that can be used on any machine alreadyworking fields, Ronald Zink, the company's director of on-board applications, said in an interview in Chicago.

Productivity and efficiency have never been more important to farmers, Zink said. In some cases, thatmeans that tractors built before GPS was a part of the world's lexicon are getting an upgrade. Earlier thismonth, the company released an update to its Harvest Mobile application that can be used with olderequipment. One function of the software allows farmers to gauge the performance of different seed varieties,which can help them make early planting decisions for the next season, he said.

The increased use of technology can help agriculture overcome what Goldman deems a "problem ofMalthusian proportions" -- an allusion to the scholar Thomas Malthus, who warned of food shortagesbecause of population growth and diminishing arable land. Of course, even with a global population topping7 billion, Malthus has yet to be proven right. Malthus died in 1834, three years before John Deere createdthe steel plow and founded the company bearing his name. In the almost 180 years that have followed,more powerful machinery coupled with seed technology and improved farming methods have allowedgrowers to collect ever-expanding grain harvests.

Crops can keep getting bigger as Deere, as well as competitors, place an emphasis on so-called variable-rate technology, a process that lets farmers know how much fertilizer, seed or crop protection to apply,when and where. That segment of precision farming has the most near-term momentum, according to DarrylMatthews, senior vice president at Trimble Navigation, a Sunnyvale, California-based technology companythat said in August its farm data was integrated with Deere's operation center.

The push into technology isn't all smooth sailing for Deere. The Department of Justice last month struck ablow to the company's agriculture technology efforts when it sued to block it's purchase of Monsanto'sPrecision Planting equipment business, saying it would eliminate competition and raise costs for farmersbecause Deere would control close to 90 percent of the U.S. market. Zink declined to comment on the suit.Both companies said they would contest it, arguing the combination will benefit farmers.

Even as competition heats up, it's unlikely to deter companies from making a bigger push into the industry.Trimble estimates 32 percent of U.S. farms use some form of variable-rate technology and that 48 percentwill employ it in the next two years. At the same time, companies such as Tel Aviv-based Prospera arefocusing on tools that allow growers to monitor the health of their land and crops in real-time. In July, itreceived a $7 million investment, led by Bessemer Venture Partners. The move to more technology is "goingto grow fast for awhile," said Karen Ubelhart, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence in New York. "We're inthe early stages of this digital industrial" era, she said.

Tractor sales on rebound after slow monthThe Weekly Times, New South Wales, 26 September 2016, http://www.weeklytimesnow.com

AFTER an unexpected drop in sales in July, Australian tractor sales bounced back last month and are now

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10.8 per cent ahead in dollarterms on last year on a year-to-date basis. The Augustimprovement was led by thelarger-horsepower range in NSW,Qld and WA. The only soft spotwas the under-40hp range thatcontributed to the ongoingweakness in Victoria, which was25 per cent down on last monthand is 15.5 per cent behind on ayear-to-date basis.

The Victorian position is nodoubt a result of the continuedstresses being felt in the dairyspace, along with an extendedwinter period. However weexpect an improvement in smalltractor sales as spring warmsup. Sales of tractors in the 40-100hp range were up 14 per centfor the month, with the nextrange, 100-200hp, up 2.6 per cent. The largest group, the 200hp-plus range, took a breather this month,down 4.9 per cent though up 12 per cent on a year-to-date basis.

Tractor sales in NSW are a standout as that state’s economy continues its impressive run. Sales for themonth were 22 per cent up on last month and are now 16.6 per cent up year-to-date, certainly a highlight.Elsewhere around the nation, Queensland and WA reported solid sales growth in excess of 10 per cent,while Tasmanian tractor sales jumped by 35 per cent. The Northern Territory was the only other regionshowing a decline, and tractor sales in South Australia remained steady. It’s not just tractors that aremoving — sales of combine harvesters went a long way towards reversing last month’s result with awhopping 52.3 per cent increase in sales.

Combine harvester sales are now 2 per cent up on a rolling 12-month basis. Balers continue to performstrongly as well with a 32 per cent increase- on last month, 2.4 per cent up on a rolling 12 months. Finally,the sales of out-front mowers continue to soar, up 40 per cent on last month, 18.5 per cent up on a rolling12 months.

The stage is now set for what looks certain to be another strong year for tractor sales. Interest rates are low,the weather has been kind and demand for most commodities remains strong. Importers and manufacturersare generally reporting solid order books and lead times remain stretched. Australia- appears to be a hotspot for machinery sales for most international manufacturers. This spring will see a raft of new productsintroduced, many being showcased at field days being held around the country and we encourage all to getout and support the industry and see what is on offer.

Grower likes new potato diggerWheat D, Capital Press, Quincy(Washington), 26 September 2016, http://www.capitalpress.com

Larry Schaapman kept a sharp eye on the gap between the primary and secondary chains of his new state-of-the-art potato digger to make sure potatoes and dirt weren’t bunching up. He’d slowed the secondarychains and all was running well. A larger pump was on its way from the manufacturer in Michigan so thechains could be sped up and he could dig at 4 mph instead of 3.2. “This is my 30th spud crop, so I boughtmyself a self-propelled machine,” said Schaapman, 57, with a smile.

It cost more than $800,000, but Schaapman was excited by its potential the first morning as he watched itdigging four rows at a time. He had needed a third conventional, tractor-pulled digger, but rather than buyone of those he decided to go with the new, self-propelled Lenco digger built by Advanced Farm Equipmentin Vestaburg, Mich. “It’s suppose to be more efficient. It can dig through the field without stopping because ithas a hopper,” he said.

Most diggers don’t have hoppers. The hopper’s capacity of 7,000 pounds of potatoes is enough to allowtrucks one minute to switch out running along side. The digger loads a truck with 32,000 pounds of potatoesin 5.5 minutes. The new machine is designed to minimize bruising and with a front-end digger, the driver

Huge recovery: Combine harvester sales are up a massive 50 per centthis month as the market bounces back from a slow July.

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isn’t constantly craning his neck to lookover his shoulder at a tractor-pulleddigger.

Jorge Nunez, driving the Lenco forSchaapman, said his main focus iskeeping enough dirt on the primarychains to minimize bruising untilpotatoes reach the rubberizedsecondary chains. Load sensors helphim monitor dirt loading. Sonar helpskeep the blades at the right depth fordirt flow and to avoid cutting potatoes.Advanced Farm Equipmentmanufactures about four of the newLenco diggers a year, Schaapman said.They are popular in the Midwest, butthis is the first in the Quincy area, hesaid.

Schaapman ordered the 32.5-ton machine in February. It arrived from Michigan Aug. 1 on two trucks andwas reassembled at his farm. Schaapman and his son, Brandon, 31, owners of Integrity Ag, will harvest48,000 tons of potatoes this season from Sept. 15 through Oct. 20. They grow for processing by Simplot,Lamb Weston and McCain Foods.

They just finished building a new 55,900-square-foot 20,000-ton storage shed with four climate-controlledzones to supplement 16,000- and 14,000-ton sheds. “Bruise-free and tonnage is all over the place thisseason,” Schaapman said.

Bruise-free is ranging from the teens to 90 percent of fields and seems to be associated with crop maturity,he said. Good yields are 35 to 38 tons per acre but some are in the mid-20s, he said. The Schaapmansalso grow onion seed, coriander, grain corn, wheat, sunflowers and beans.

Industrial IOT: These ultra sonic sensors give sight to soundsHicks J, Forbes, Jersey City, 28 September 2016, http://www.forbes.com

You know the old adage, what you see is what you get. But what about what you hear? What if you couldsee what you hear?

A blade makes a certain sound when it functions normally. But when it isn’t functioning normally, it willmake a similar sound but not enough for the technician to act right away. What if you had sensors thatcould detect, through acoustic patterns of the sound of the blade, what was wrong with the blade and run avirtual diagnostic test to alert technicians so they can make an immediate repair or shut down the blade.

This is the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) market. According to a research report by Markets and Mar-kets, the Industrial IoT market is expected to grow to $151.01 billion in four years, by 2020. As manufactur-ing and production increasingly becomes more automated, there is a need for predictive maintenancetechnology that helps to keep equipment running optimally at the same time, identifies potential problems inreal time.

Enter an Israeli startup 3DSignals. The company just grabbed a seed round of $3 million from Grove Ven-tures that’s betting the company’s combination of ultrasonic sensors and predictive analytics software willgive customers access to unique proprietary data and actionable insights.

“IoT, cloud infrastructure and artificial intelligence are emerging high-growth areas and Grove invests incompanies that touch upon or converge in all three to address markets ripe for disruption,” saidLotanLevkowitz, Partner, Grove Ventures. “Manufacturing, mining, energy and other heavy-industry compa-nies continue to use decades-old equipment, which creates opportunities to retrofit existing machines withIndustrial IoT technology. The hundred billion dollar IIoT market will accelerate quickly and bridge 40 years oftechnology gaps in the next five years.”

This is where 3DSignals steps in. The company combines wireless ultrasonic sensors and machine learningalgorithms for industrial equipment and machinery such as turbines, compressors, robotics, motors, cuttingequipment in one system that will alert engineers and technicians in real time to potential equipment failure/damage before it becomes a costly accident. They use acoustics as diagnostics and focuses on predictivemaintenance versus preventative maintenance for industrial equipment. The company claims it can deploywithin 20 minutes with just a power supply. The sensors are connected wirelessly and software can be

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deployed on either a public or private cloud.

“Sound taps into a part of the brain and that allows humans to instantly know if a machine is working as itshould or about to malfunction. In the case of industry and manufacturing, engineers have used this innateintuition to diagnose equipment problems using sound since the time of early machines,” saidAmnonShenfeld, Co-founder and CEO, 3DSignals. “We designed 3DSignals to build upon this fundamentalhuman capacity and enable engineers to monitor multiple pieces of equipment, access that data from anylocation, and make quick decisions that can avoid costly machine disasters.”

The company has one disclosed pilot with MacSteel International. The company also says it’s looking atuse cases for autonomous industrial vehicles and farm equipment.

AGCO to participate in data exchange initiativeSchroeder E, World Grain, Duluth, September 28, 2016, http://www.world-grain.com

AGCO Corp., a manufacturer and distributorof agricultural equipment, has signed on as afounding member of the DKE Data-Hubinitiative. Through the DKE Data-Hub, AGCOsaid it will collaborate with other leaders inthe agricultural industry to solve data commu-nication and conversion problems for growers.

The initiative, which is scheduled to debut in2018, is expected to offer solutions fordealing with the issue of allowing datatransfer and conversion from multiple suppli-ers and OEMs to communicate with eachother. The objective of the Data-Hub is toprovide a neutral platform to streamline thedata transfer process, as well as to improveefficiency, energy, work organization and theuse of operating supplies leading to betterquality production at lower costs.

“AGCO’s participation in the DKE Data-Hubinitiative will enable our customers to opti-mize their agricultural production processesby simplifying the transfer of data acrossmultiple platforms,” said Matt Rushing, vice-president of global advanced technology solutions product line at AGCO.

In an Aug. 9 presentation at the Jeffries Industrials Conference in New York City, New York, U.S., AndyBeck, senior vice-president of AGCO, discussed Fuse, the company’s approach to precision agriculture thatconnects the entire crop cycle from enterprise planning to planting, crop care, harvesting and grain storage.

“We’re investing in products outside of the tractor, our core tractor markets, also in the area of harvestingapplication equipment, and also investing a lot in new technologies or the term precision agriculture,” Becksaid. “And that is a very important trend in our business and we think an opportunity for future growth anddifferentiation amongst competitors. And so, we have a lot of investment in new technology as well aroundthat area.”

Additionally, through partnerships and connections with farm management software providers, AGCO isallowing more growers to more easily transfer data between AGCO machines and their preferred FarmManagement Information Software (FMIS) using AGCO task file management systems, VarioDoc andTaskDoc, to help them become more efficient in farm data and fleet management, the company said. Someof the recently established data connections that AGCO has made include connecting with farm manage-ment tools from SMAG, Farmplan, DuPont Pioneer and FarmFacts, enabling growers to make the most ofthe data on their farms. Other members of the DKE Data-Hub include Amazone, Grimme and Kuhn.

Rise of the robot tactorsBennett C, AgWeb, Moline, 28 September 2016, http://www.agweb.com

Over seven months, Matt Reimer built automated controls for his John Deere 7930 and used the systemsuccessfully during the 2015 harvest.

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Ghost in the machine. A John Deere 7930 tractorrumbles across a canola field, buggy in tow, andeases alongside a rolling combine to collect grain.Speed, distance, and timing are synced in a farmingmachinery version of a harvest mating dance. Exceptthis is no ordinary two-step. The box is empty. Thereis no wheelman in the tractor cab.

What does it take to make a robot tractor? A batch offree software, some drone parts, a tablet computer,and one curious farmer to cobble the bits together.Forget theory and gimmicks, robots are alreadyoperating on farmland. Matt Reimer’s remote control7930 is proof in the dirt. Working in his Killarney,Manitoba, shop with computer and hammer, Reimer, 30, has kicked open the door for autonomy in agricul-ture. He’s done it on a shoestring budget and left a paper trail for others to follow. Rise of the machines israther the rise of the open-sourced farmer.

Going back almost a decade, Reimer had heard and read of ag machinery manufacturers working onautonomous vehicles, but wondered why a remotely managed tractor and grain cart weren’t available. “Thinkabout the way we’ve always done it. Once the guy with the grain cart is beneath the combine auger, he setsthe auto steer and tells the tractor to drive straight. It’s relatively simple. There wasn’t anything on themarket and I thought, ‘Why not go for it myself?’”

In 2014, the third-generation Canadian producer opened a Christmas card with $200 tucked inside from hisparents. Any other year, the money would have gone toward bills or groceries, but Reimer indulged in a bit offun: He went online and shopped for a remote control airplane. He stumbled across Pixhawk, a versatileautopilot system, and his excitement jumped the track, straight to his farm. If Pixhawk ran an airplane, whynot a tractor?

Pixhawk included a radio set for communication betweenautomated vehicle and tablet. It also contained navigationalalgorithms. The operator simply tells a vehicle to move toparticular GPS coordinates. No understanding of math orprogramming required. Pared down, Reimer’s challengecentered on hooking Pixhawk to a tractor. He spent thewinter of 2014-2015 trying to make it work, but set it asideas the growing season approached.

“One of my friends asked if I’d given up on the stupid idea,”Reimer says. “That comment spurred me and I got it backout and had it finished a few months later.”

Essentially, Reimer connected Pixhawk with servo motorsthat physically moved and controlled the tractor cab. His

driverless system was ready for the 2015 harvest. When Reimer was ready to unload grain, he pushed onebutton on a tablet to call the tractor and grain cart. Using GPS locations on a loop, Pixhawk made continu-ous calculations and the tractor followed the data trail. After unloading, Reimer hit the tablet button againand the tractor moved off at an idle and waited until the next dump.

Range of communication varies according to terrain. The system doesn’t technically require line of sight,but with no vision capabilities, the tractor arrives on a straight line once called. Reimer custom harvested in2015 on a flat, mile-long field and had no problem with communications. All said, Reimer’s automationsystem cost $8,000 through a trial and error of discarded parts. However, he says the returns will mountover time.

“It can save me $5,000 per year for a tractor driver depending on pay and harvest length, but the real savingscome because the tractor driver now is doing other things," he says. "Swathing ahead of the combine;harrowing behind the combine; going for fuel and parts; and more jobs to keep an operation running well. Wehad one of our smoothest harvests ever in 2015.”

MATT_REIMER_2Since the 2015 harvest, Reimer has further improved his system, replacing the servos witharduinos – embedded computers. At the tractor control panel, he cut the wires and ran them into thearduinos, and then back to the controls. The arduinos pass along the automation signal. When driving inmanual mode, the tractor runs normally, but the arduinos take over at the flip of a switch, allowing Pixhawkto guide the vehicle to given GPS coordinates. The arduinos have been a revelation.

“I’m always telling farmers how useful arduinos can be to an operation. Put sensor input in and based on the

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input, turn a switch on and off. Getting that far doesn’t take much effort or skill. It’s all online and even getstaught to elementary school kids,” Reimer says.

Arduinos are now part of Reimer’s farm toolbox for small tasks such as automatically monitoring tank levelsand shutting off pumps once a tank fills. “It’s a cheap and easy way to do it yourself,” he explains. “I recom-mend farmers pick one up in the winter and get familiar with the simple tech. Arduinos have become a new,useful tool around my place.”

All of Reimer’s work is open sourced and documented on diydrones.com, a website typically focused onremote control airplanes and cars. He posted videos on the site from start to finish, intent on enabling othersto follow his progress and learn from his efforts. “I did it so more farmers will get involved and also share theirprogress," he says. "It’s the ethical thing to do. I want other guys to see what I’ve done and do it better.”

As for objections from manufacturers, Reimer hasn’t faced any opposition. He has built physical devicesand rerouted wires, but not altered John Deere's software. “I haven’t messed with their software," he says."I’d love it if they would open source their software and then we could really do some neat things.”

Kevin Monk, vice president of global marketing for AgJunction, a provider of precision steering and controlsolutions for agriculture, expects to see more autonomous farmer-built solutions in the near future. He saysthe required innovations are technically feasible and low-hanging incentives are drawing in producers withthe competency to create automation systems through farmyard tinkering. In addition, Monk believesfarmer-built innovations may push commercial solutions to market.

“I hope it will drive OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) to adopt these solutions quicker," he says."Supervised autonomy will greatly disrupt the way we currently farm and the business for agriculture equip-ment as it is today. I believe that as solutions offered by individuals gain traction in the market, OEMs willbe driven to provide these types of solutions.”

Monk says efforts by Reimer and others will lead to bigger commercial solutions. “In the early 1990s, therewere several farmers and engineers developing yield monitors," he says. "Yield monitor innovations startedwith individuals tinkering and then offering some of their products to nearby farmers. That was before yieldmonitors became standard in combines. I see the same thing happening with some of these supervisedautonomous solutions."

Reimer’s tractor innovations have led to Reimer Robotics, a side business focused on automation in grainbin monitoring. He builds and installs bin monitors that wirelessly relay temperature and grain data.“I’m stilldeveloping and improving the autonomous robot tractor, but it turns out people are very interested in remotebin monitoring as well and it’s become my near-term focus,” he says.

On Canada's prairie soil, Reimer farms a 2,500-acre mix of spring wheat and canola. At fall harvest in 2016,his combine once again will be shadowed by a tractor with an empty box, the result of Reimer’s hard workand curiosity driven by the need to improve. “I’m no different from other farmers because we all work hard,"he says. "I just hope other guys pick up on what I’m doing and make improvements on what I’ve missed.”

Advanced Israeli farming technology offers options forMyanmarSar H, Mizzima, Naypyidaw, 29 September 2016, http://www.mizzima.com

On a visit to a model farm in Israel this week, the potential forMyanmar’s agricultural development was there to see. I had theopportunity to see advanced techniques that Israeli agriculturalistsdeveloped and farmers use to maximize water use and grow sustain-able crops.

I assume that the main reason of the successful Israel’s agriculturaleconomy is the favourable climate and use of advanced agriculturaltechnology and farm equipment. Land is at a premium in this countryand care is taken to make the most out of limited resources.

But in my country Myanmar, use of modern and advanced farmequipment and technology in agricultural economy is in dismalsituation as I have seen on my innumerable reporting trips out into the countryside.

As the Israeli Ambassador to Myanmar Mr Daniel Zohar Zonshine made clear in a commentary Mizzimapublished this year, the methods Israeli farmers use including “drip irrigation” and other methods could beapplicable to the development of Myanmar’s agricultural sector.

Myanmar’s farming sector offers great potential, but it has to rise from a low base.

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Israeli farmers assume that high monsoon rain in our country made the low yield of our crops. I learn thatIsraeli ambassador in Myanmar brought some agriculture experts from Israel to study some areas inMyanmar for soil testing and they had plan to use advanced agricultural technology and to use rich re-sources of irrigation in our country.

In discussions with Israeli farmers, they noted the importance of having a good market for their products –both for internal consumption and export – and how a short, developed supply chain helped, given thechallenges of preserving products.

I learned that Israel faces stiff competition in the European market in its export of agricultural produce, fruitsand foodstuffs as Africa, which is close to Europe, is increasingly focusing on the agriculture sector andusing advanced agricultural technology in it. So the situation is growing more competitive.

Israel stands in the world as a progressed and developed country in its desert land. Israel is recognized bythe world as rich with ancient history, cultural and religious heritage too. As a technologically developedcountry, the country uses its expertise and technology in the advancement of the country.

Despite of its desert land, Israel uses technology for turning the country from desert into a successfulagricultural economy. In the dry zone, they use computerized irrigation system and water vapour irrigation inagriculture.

Once interesting observation is the importance placed on allotting land to agriculture.

Under Israeli law, one can buy many acres of agricultural land but the citizens cannot buy much land toconstruct residential areas. Israel allows only the construction of small homes and most of the country’sland is used for agriculture, a farmer told me.

Interestingly, as I saw, most of the farm workers are from Thailand, and some are refugees employed fromneighbouring countries.

As soon as landed in Israel, agricultural land and green cover were found in most of the suburbs of the town.The roads are lined with straight and high trees. Cotton, date fruit orchard, apple orchards, pomegranate andfig were mostly grown in the country and they are exported to the world markets as agricultural produce.

In most of these orchards and plantations, manpower is used to the minimum level and mechanization isgreatly used. They use high tech in pest control and irrigation by computer control. As these orchards andplantations are a long term investment and crucial to the economy, they use technology to protect themfrom natural disasters and they use genetic engineering methods too.

LADA US$20M project to improve agricultureTamba GT, Daily Observer, Monrovia,29 September 2016, http://www.liberianobserver.com

The Chief of Party of Liberia Agribusiness Development Activity (LADA) Mr. Daniel Gies has disclosed thathis agency’s US$20million dollar program will contribute to food security. He made the statement at thelaunch of its agricultural value chains of rice, cassava and several vegetables through the Feed the Future(FTF) program on Wednesday at the Paynesville City Hall in Monrovia.

Gies said LADA, a USAID sponsored program, will increase private sector investment in agricultural,increase private sector investment in post-harvest handling and auxiliary services and strengthen facilitation,market information, advocacy and support as a means of improving the agriculture sector.

LADA’s program is implemented by Cultivating Frontiers in Agriculture (CNFA) with focus on increasing theincomes of smallholder farmers (SHFs) through investment in the agribusiness sector. Gies said the pro-gram will help farmers yield more results from their work in four of Liberia’s fifteen counties, namely Bong,Nimba, Lofa and Upper Montserrado counties.

“Through the LADA Feed the Future (FTF) program, we are committed to working with Liberian entrepre-neurs, aggregators, producers of farming equipment, retailers of fertilizers and other agricultural supplies,owners of logistics and transportation companies and cold storage operators, to improve the various foodvalue chains and begin to export food to other countries,” Gies explained.

According to LADA Private Sector Advisor, Madam Watchen Bruce, LADA selected three of the mostpromising agricultural value chains – rice, cassava, and vegetables because they are strong potential for jobcreation, self-sustainability, food security, increasing consumption trends, and reflect the priorities of theLiberian government.

“These value chains that have been launched by LADA are key to this country’s food security and thecounties selected are known for best results in these value chains. We believe that with this support theagriculture sector will yield more results and Liberians will begin to export food to other countries,” saidMadam Bruce.

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Madam Bruce told this newspaper that LADA will accomplish its goal by expanding handling, packaging,processing and marketing services with the aim to increase the on-farm productivity and income for Liberiansmall farmers in the four selected counties. “We are also giving the LADA Co-Investment Fund (CIF) ofUS$3million grant mechanism to support agricultural processors in the FTF target areas in Liberia. “Thisgrant will facilitate investments by nascent and active agriculture processors to develop needed infrastruc-ture in post-harvest handling and marketing technologies and we have placed this information on the Execu-tive Mansion website for interested people to apply,” she said. The program brought together several organi-zations and was followed by Agribusiness Investment Network (AIN) that facilitated business relationships tolink suppliers, buyers, producers and investors in order to maximize investment and also promote policyinterventions to improve the regulatory environment for agribusiness in Liberia.

Russian ag machinery sector begins to defrostClarke W, Agrimoney, Moscow, 29 September 2016, http://www.agrimoney.com

The investment freeze in Russian agriculture is “thawing out,” thanks to this year’s good harvest, andgovernment subsidies, tractor-dealer Ekotechnika said. Shares in Ekotechnika soared, as the group re-ported rising revenues and profits this year, thanks to increased farmer spending in Russia, with a sharpincrease in tractor and combine harvester sales. Ekotechnika is the German holding company for EkoNivaGroup, the largest dealer of foreign-branded tractors in Russia, particularly John Deere products.

Rising salesEkoNiva’s tractor sales are up by around one third so far this year, with sales of combine harvesters up bytwo thirds. The group’s preliminary results show sales revenues in the first nine months of the year ataround E87m, up 13% year on year. And this increase was even higher when the relative weakness of therouble against the euro was factored in, with exchange-adjusted sales up 38%.

Ekotechnika expects to see earnings before interest and taxation rise to E6.7m, up from just E1.9m overthe same period last year. Shares in Dusseldorf jumped some 73%, to highs of E10.35, and were trading atE8.50, up 42% on the day, in afternoon deals.

Investment freeze easesThe improvement is being driven by increasing famer spending, which marks the end of a long period oftightened belts.“Sales and profit growth was driven by the strong performance of the Russian agriculturalsector, buoyed by an exceptionally good harvest as well as government subsidies for the sector which haveenabled farmers to invest in machinery again”.

“It seems that the freeze on capital spending in the agricultural sector is slowly thawing and that the sectorhas emerged from the trough marked in the crisis year 2014-15,” said Stefan Dürr, chief executive ofEkotechnika.Russian farmers have benefitted from a record large wheat harvest, at when the weak roublemakes Russian supplies very competitive in the world market. But Mr Dürr warned that “the high cost offinancing in Russia remains a drag on our business because it makes state-subsidised equipment fromlocal manufacturers more attractive to farmers”.

Why IoT, Big Data & smart farming is the future of agricultureMeola A, Business Insider, Geneva, 07 October 2016, http://www.businessinsider.com

The farming industry will become arguably more important than ever before in the next few decades. Theworld will need to produce 70% more food in 2050 than it did in 2006 in order to feed the growing populationof the Earth, according to the UN Food and AgricultureOrganization. To meet this demand, farmers andagricultural companies are turning to the Internet ofThings for analytics and greater production capabili-ties.

Technological innovation in farming is nothing new.Handheld tools were the standards hundreds of yearsago, and then the Industrial Revolution brought aboutthe cotton gin. The 1800s brought about grain eleva-tors, chemical fertilizers, and the first gas-poweredtractor. Fast forward to the late 1900s, when farmersstart using satellites to plan their work.

The IoT is set to push the future of farming to the nextlevel. Smart agriculture is already becoming more

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commonplace among farmers, andhigh tech farming is quickly becom-ing the standard thanks to agricul-tural drones and sensors. Below,we've outlined IoT applications inagriculture and how "Internet ofThings farming" will help farmersmeet the world's food demands inthe coming years.

High Tech Farming: PrecisionFarming & Smart AgricultureFarmers have already begunemploying some high tech farmingtechniques and technologies inorder to improve the efficiency oftheir day-to-day work. For example,sensors placed in fields allowfarmers to obtain detailed maps of both the topography and resources in the area, as well as variables suchas acidity and temperature of the soil. They can also access climate forecasts to predict weather patternsin the coming days and weeks.

Farmers can use their smartphones to remotely monitor their equipment, crops, and livestock, as well asobtain stats on their livestock feeding and produce. They can even use this technology to run statisticalpredictions for their crops and livestock. And drones have become an invaluable tool for farmers to surveytheir lands and generate crop data.

As a concrete example, John Deere (one of the biggest names in farming equipment) has begun connect-ing its tractors to the Internet and has created a method to display data about farmers' crop yields. Further-more, the company is pioneering self-driving tractors, which would free up farmers to perform other tasksand further increase efficiency.

All of these techniques help make up precision farming or precision agriculture, the process of usingsatellite imagery and other technology (such as sensors) to observe and record data with the goal ofimproving production output while minimizing cost and preserving resources.

Future of Farming: IoT, Agricultural Sensors, & Farming DronesSmart agriculture and precision farming are taking off, but they could just be the precursors to even greateruse of technology in the farming world. BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service,predicts that IoT device installations in the agriculture world will increase from 30 million in 2015 to 75million in 2020, for a compound annual growth rate of 20%.

The U.S. currently leads the world in IoT smart agriculture, as it produces 7,340 kgs of cereal (e.g. wheat,rice, maize, barley, etc.) per hectare (2.5 acres) of farmland, compared to the global average of 3,851 kgs ofcereal per hectare. And this efficiency should only improve in the coming decades as farms become moreconnected. OnFarm, which makes a connected farm IoT platform, expects the average farm to generate anaverage of 4.1 million data points per day in 2050, up from 190,000 in 2014.

Furthermore, OnFarm ran several studies and discovered that for the average farm, yield rose by 1.75%,energy costs dropped $7 to $13 per acre, and water use for irrigation fell by 8%. Given all of the potentialbenefits of these IoT applications in agriculture, it's understandable that farmers are increasingly turning toagricultural drones and satellites for the future of farming.

Japan's 'agri-tech' farming revolutionCroft A, Japan Today, Tokyo, 10 October 2016, http://www.japantoday.com

Japan’s high-tech agricultural businesses are to gather at the Agri Worldtrade fair held in Tokyo this week (Oct 12-14) to showcase the industriesnext generation of technologies such as plant factories, robotic automa-tion and IT systems, claimed as advancing the “fourth industrial revolu-tion” into the sector.

Business analysts forecast the “agri-tech” market is primed for extensivegrowth internationally over the decades ahead. As global population isexpected to reach 9 billion by 2050, food needs would require a doublingof agricultural production, state U.N. World Food Programme experts.

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Offering technological solutions, “agri-tech” businesses are marketing a wide variety of products and ser-vices for meeting industry demands, to generally increase productivity, lower costs, use less resourcessuch as energy, water and pesticides, and improve produce quality and availability.

There is also a strong demand for labor saving and assistive agricultural equipment driven by a differentdemographic trend, that of ageing agricultural farmers, whereby according to U.N. figures, in developedcountries the average age is 60, and where in Japan it has risen to 67.

Overall Japan has a shrinking agricultural sector, demonstrated by government data showing the number offull-time farmers at 1.7 million in 2014, declining from 2.2 million a decade earlier. Workforce and skillsshortages are compounded by the lack of young people becoming farmers. Also, due to the increasing rateof farmers retiring, the overall amount of uncultivated farmland within Japan has doubled over the past twodecades, increasing to 420,000 hectares in 2015.

Japan’s reliance on food imports is a further factor of concern, currently estimated at 60%, prompting recentgovernment targets for boosting domestic production to 55% by 2050. Agricultural production at present isvalued at around 1 trillion yen of which the government aims to increase to 10 trillion yen by 2020, raisingfood self-sufficiency as a major agricultural policy.

Another government initiative is 4 billion yen budgeted over the year through March for promoting farmingautomation technology in order to raise crop yields and make-up for workforce deficits. Specifically, thefinancial subsidy supports the development of 20 robot types, such as devices which separate over-ripefruits during harvesting, to enable large reductions in manual farm labor.

As physical activities bring more difficulties for a greater number of aging farmers, technological innovationsto assist with and replace workers performing agricultural tasks is an urgent priority.

Japanese tech companies are heavily investing in agricultural technology as a big opportunity for profits inboth domestic and global markets such as India and the APAC countries, attracting small scale start-ups tobig corporations such as Mitsubishi, Fujitsu, and Panasonic, to name but a few.

There is also a trend for farmland in Japan to be cultivated by “business farmers” and “agribusiness,” ataround 50% today, leading to 80% by 2025, according to government estimates.

As an indicator of growth potential in the “agri-tech” sector, the global market for agricultural robots isprojected to reach $73.9 billion by 2024, up from $3 billion in 2015, predicted by Tractica, a market intelli-gence firm. Driverless tractors are trended to gain the highest revenue at $30.7 billion by 2024, with agricul-tural drones comprising the most amount of units shipped.

The applications of farming technologies are wide ranging and often interconnect. A typical farm scenariocould involve a driverless tractor in a rice paddy field utilising a global positioning system, both synchronisedto automate cultivation and fertilization after monitoring the soil conditions.

For work that is harder to be automated, wearable robotics put on like a backpack have been designed toassist harvesting and carrying produce, more so for elderly and female farmers.

As well as automating work, high-tech farming technologies provide accurate information which farmers canuse to make decisions managing crops. For example, a combination of high resolution drone images,historical weather data from geo-satellites and sensors in the field would generate real-time alerts on mobiledevices to inform farmers when to reduce a mandarin orchards water supply, so the trees absorb less waterfrom the soil, therefore increasing sugar levels of the fruits.

The valuable experience and techniques of veteran farmers could also be more accessible to newer farmersvia the web, such as learning resources about harvesting times with databases and photos.

Many news items about “agri-tech” businesses have featured in both the Japanese and international media,with reports of indoor “vertical farms” and automated greenhouses gaining the most coverage. There is oftena focus on robotic automation, also the use of IT systems and sensors to measure and control growingprocesses, evidently enhancing work efficiencies, crop yields and produce quality.

For example, GRA Inc is a medium-size Japanese business with an automated indoor greenhouse facilityproducing strawberries, providing a reliable quality and increased supply all year round.

The company joins conventional farming expertise and technological innovation, employing local farmers asadvisors and management, founded by a former IT administrator turned agriculturalist.

Based in Miyagi Prefecture, the business started a few months after the Tohoku disaster. In an area famousfor its strawberries, thousands of greenhouses were destroyed and damaged ensuing huge losses forfarmers. The business has therefore helped to modernise and revitalise regional trade.Such stories show thereal potential for young tech-savvy farmers to work alongside older, more experienced farmers, towardovercoming the challenges confronting Japan’s agricultural industry.

Allan Croft is a freelance writer focusing on the latest science, tech and green news in Japan and Asia.

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Tractor sales up more than a third in September from AugustPreuss H, BD Live, Pretoria, 11 October 2016, http://www.bdlive.co.za

Although tractor sales jumped 35.5% month onmonth in September to 623 units from 460 units inAugust, sales were still down 2.2% year on year,according to the South African Agricultural Machin-ery Association (Saama).

Tractor sales have been hurt this year due touncertainty about crop yields and exchange rates, ifthe weather had transitioned from a dry El Niñoglobal cycle to a wet La Niña cycle, land restitutionissues and farm-worker shares in farms.

"Fundamentals underpinning the market have notchanged much i`n the last month. In regard to rainfallprospects, with the El Niño effect having given way to a weak La Niña effect, the country is in a bettersituation in terms of prospects for the forthcoming summer cropping season than it was 12 months ago,"Saama said.

"However, general rain is required over all the summer cropping regions, with some of the areas, particularlythose in the east, requiring rain within the next three weeks," the industry body said. Sales are down 13.7%year on year in the first nine months of 2016, dropping 12.2% to 5,673 units for the whole of 2015. Currentindustry forecasts for the 2016 calendar year are that tractor sales will be between 15% and 20% lowerthan last year.

Nigeria: 'How to attract youths into agriculture'Agbo AD, Daily Trust, Abuja, 13 October 2016, http://allafrica.com

Drudgery of farm work, perceived and less prestigious nature of farming are some of the factors that makemany Nigerian youths shun agriculture over the years.

For about a decade now, the government and other stakeholders in the sector, have been clamouring for theengagement of the energetic youths in agriculture to replace the ageing farming population. But all effortsseem not to be yielding the expected results as the youths still shy away from agriculture.

Considering the danger this situation poses to the nation's economic diversification programme, an agricul-tural expert and former president of the Animal Science Society of Nigeria, Prof. Placid Njoku, has listedsome ingredients needed to attract youths to agriculture.

According to Njoku, who disclosed this recently during an interactive session on Radio Nigeria networknews, "the youths are digital", so agriculture needed to be technology driven to attract their attention.

Agricultural "mechanisation and entrepreneurship" are also among some of the attractants listed by theprofessor to get the youths involved in agriculture.

He also said that incentives should be offered to lure young men and women into agriculture. Njoku statedthat agriculture must be made a profitable venture for the youths to reap the benefits of their labour.

He urged the government to step up its efforts through research institutes to mechanise agriculture as donein Israel and other countries. Similarly, the Executive Director representing Nigeria at the African Develop-ment Bank (AfDB), Dr Bright Okongwu, has at a recent event in Abuja, urged capitalists to make agricultureattractive to the youths by assisting them with fund to practice modern agriculture.

He said agriculture should no longer be seen as a drudgery business, adding that young men and womenshould be encouraged to go into farming.

Surround yourself with positive people who willsupport you when it rains, not just when it shines Anon.

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