The management about the Agritechnica 2023
Agritechnica – innovation meets communication
Cornelia Horsch: „In the past years, technologies were fast-paced, also in the agricultural engineering sector. Our appearance at the Agritechnica will be the most comprehensive in the company’s history. At our stand, you will find a wide range of innovations from all sectors. From tillage, seed drills to hybrid farming and crop care to electronic and digital solutions.
We want to give our customers the opportunity to get information about our technologies and innovations and we are happy to be available for all your questions. Our focus is on communication. We want to use the time to cultivate customer relations and to exchange experiences with the farmers to create a benefit for both parties. Our objective also is to further develop the relations with our sales partners and to use the stand as a platform for our sales partners all over the world. Moreover, the visitors can get to know HORSCH as an interesting employer and talk directly with our colleagues from HR.
Our stand has been planned according to the motto “Reduce. Rethink. Reuse.” The material requirements were reduced and right from the start we focussed on reusing material or large components like containers. The modular design system allows for a flexible use of the furniture beyond the show. It will be reused at the different HORSCH sites after the show. Whereas 95–98 % of the stands are equipped with a disposable carpet, we rent a reuseable carpet that has already been used for more than 10 years. The seasonal plants at our stand are rented from a local nursery.
In addition to numerous machine innovations, there will some surprises for our customers. Among them a “Yield Challenge” that has been designed and built by our dual students and apprentices as well as a children’s area with HORSCH colouring books.
We are looking forward to welcoming guests from Europe and the whole World at our stand and we are proud of being able to present such a wide range of innovations.”
Constant improvements towards the “next level”
Philipp Horsch: „It is our objective to constantly improve our products and always provide our customers with new solutions to agronomic challenges. With the HORSCH Solus we are striking our own path towards “next level” seeding that is based on longtime experience. The placement precision is one of the future topics in the seeding sector. Already 17 years ago, HORSCH started to focus on the topic of singulation. Based on our experiences, we combined the AirSpeed metering unit with a lean Maestro unit to build a machine with a row spacing of 22.5 cm. The result is our Solus, a new seed drill for narrow seeding that ensures an excellent emergence and a regular development of the plant and provides the key for more stable yields and efficiency with regard to nutrients. Thus, we tackle several future topics at the same time. The first tests show a high potential in winter rapeseed and winter wheat. In wheat especially with low seed rates and row spacings of 22.5 resp. 25 cm.
In the sector of digitisation, too, we are pursuing the “next level”. HorschConnect allows for using the advantages of digitisation and to make data exchange as efficient as possible. Our PartFinder – a HORSCH in-house development – is an example for a digital product that has been designed for the service and the direct customer support. It shows the individual 3D model of the customer machine and will facilitate the search for and the ordering of spare parts enormously. Moreover, this technology will be the tool to make all product-relevant information available intuitively – information for the production department, the service teams of our sales partners and customers and for the marketing and sales departments. The objective of the development always is to establish a solution that matches the user group, impress with an excellent user experience and can be operated intuitively.”
Future-oriented extensions in the crop care range
Theo Leeb: „The new self-propelled sprayer Leeb VT, our fourth self-propelled sprayer, is an addition to our Leeb crop care sprayer range. It will help us to expand in existing and new markets in the future. The VT excels due to its variable track adjustment and thus provides an enormous flexibility.
The most important innovation is our new pneumatic fertiliser spreader, Leeb Xeric, that meets the challenges of the market. It excels due to utmost application precision – regardless of the situation. The fertiliser spreader is an efficient tool due to the large capacity of the tank and the working width of 48 m. The new metering system is particularly innovative and reduces wear costs to a minimum. Moreover, it is equipped with our latest technologies like SectionControl and CurveCompensation to ensure even more precision and sustainability.
We also still work very intensively with the topic of SpotSpraying to be able to make crop care even more efficient and future-oriented. The basis is the HORSCH pulse nozzle system PrecisionSpray. The objective is to adapt the new technology to the different environmental conditions and requirements of the farmers to meet the future framework conditions in the crop care sector. Therefore, one of our topics for the future is the development of our own SpotSpraying system.”
Increasing reaction to climate conditions
Michael Horsch: „We will become or already are climate farmers. What does this mean? We have to adapt quickly to the changes of climate and weather and pull out all the stops to get stable populations with a focus on yield stability.
Long droughts and periods with high rainfall are a challenge in many respects. Already today, we notice the influences on rotation and the cultivated crops. The advantage of winter crops is that they can use the water that is provided during the winter months very efficiently. If we take a look at 2023, the winter barley, winter wheat and winter rapeseed harvest was good. For spring crops, especially for maize and soybeans, the situation in Europe was rather precarious for a long time. In many regions, the rainfall in July/August quite literally came at the last minute and prevented a total failure. This shows how important different crops and proper rotations are with regard to spreading the risk.
The soil as a key factor in production becomes more and more important. Beside the soil structure in the topsoil area, the root development that depends on the soil is crucial. If compaction horizons prevent the roots from getting water from deeper layers, the yield potential is affected. In addition, the nutrient supply of the site is essential for the resistance of the crop and finally, of course, the humus content in the soil. Humus acts as an efficient nutrient and water reservoir. From a technical point of view, two facts are particularly important: tillage for an optimum structure of the soil, a sufficient loosening level or an intensive mixing in of harvest residues and seeding technology for different requirements. In the seeding sector, we have been noticing an increasing diversification for quite some time. In addition to mulch seeding technology, machines for direct seeding like our Avatar are increasing. This means: in dry years, the farmer has to be able to make optimum use of the little water that is available in the soil to achieve a good emergence.
Seeding is not only interesting with regard to a safe emergence but also with regard to a regular emergence. We have to succeed in making all plants emerge the same day and not delayed or very late. In years with a lack of water, the irregularly or belatedly emerged plants can be a problem as they consume nutrients and water but only contribute to the yield to a little extent.
If we summarise these topics, we see that the changing weather and climate probably will have the biggest influence on our future decisions and methods.”