The AGCO Agriculture Foundation (AAF) announced a $100,000 donation to the World Food Program USA (WFPUSA). The donation will support the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) emergency relief efforts to provide food assistance for families affected by the conflict inside Ukraine and neighboring countries.

Farmers, farming communities, homes, and economies have all been badly impacted by Ukraine’s ongoing crisis. In addition, people are fleeing their homes, families, farms, land, and businesses. Our thoughts and prayers are with our employees, families, and the people of Ukraine during this time of crisis.

“Watching the destruction of lives and lands due to the crisis in Ukraine is deeply troubling. Sustainably feeding the world is core to our purpose, and we are immediately concerned about the food security of the people caught in the Ukraine crisis. Through our community development and humanitarian focus, we are mobilizing an immediate donation to the U.N. World Food Programme’s emergency operation to provide food assistance to affected families in Ukraine and its borders.”

said Roger N. Batkin, Board Chair, AGCO Agriculture Foundation.

The U.N. World Food Programme recently launched an emergency operation seeking $570M in emergency response to provide food assistance for civilians fleeing the conflict in Ukraine.

AGCO Corporation and the AAF have opened a “ShareTheMeal” team campaign with the U.N. World Food Programme to achieve a 182,000 meal goal in three months as an extension of the total donation. As a result, AGCO employees and concerned stakeholders can donate as individuals or groups to support the ongoing emergency relief and food assistance in Ukraine. Fifty-five cents can provide one meal per day.

“Our first priority was protecting our Ukrainian employees and their families. Our collective concern then quickly shifted to actions we could take to support Ukraine. We are grateful to contribute to the U.N. World Food Programme and to offer our employees the opportunity to contribute to emergency food assistance for Ukraine through our ShareTheMeal team challenge.”

said Ivory Harris, Chief Human Resources Officer at AGCO.

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Located on an 8-acre site adjacent to the plant, which manufactures GSI grain storage and conditioning equipment, the solar project was designed and constructed by SolAmerica Energy. It is a ground-mounted system that rotates to track the sun throughout the day, maximizing electricity production.

The power generated — targeted at 3.2 million kilowatt-hours for the first year — is expected to produce substantial savings compared to the facility’s current energy costs. Besides the economic benefit, the project also offers an environmentally friendly source of clean, renewable energy.

“We’re very proud to support the adoption of solar energy on this large-scale basis, which will contribute to the global effort to help protect our climate. This project also supports AGCO’s ongoing commitment to providing sustainable, high-tech solutions for farmers feeding the world.”

said Hans Lehmann, Vice President, Americas, AGCO Grain & Protein.

John Buffington, Vice President of Business Development for SolAmerica, stated:

“SolAmerica has been honored to work with AGCO on this exciting project. AGCO approached SolAmerica with a view that going solar could add value to their GSI business while supporting the company’s commitment to environmental sustainability in a tangible way. We applaud AGCO for this vision.”

Buffington said an added benefit of the project is that the site area has been planted with wildflowers and native grasses intended to provide habitat to pollinating species, which offer critical ecological and agricultural benefits.

The AGCO solar energy system was developed under the Illinois Shines initiative, a state incentive program designed to promote the development of new solar energy sources in Illinois. For additional information about GSI, visit grainsystems.com.

Source: AGCO

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AGCO Corporation hosted dealers and media this week to celebrate its greatly expanded Fendt distribution network and introduce five new products to North America. The public may tune in for a virtual preview of the new Class 10 combine and expanded offering of tractors during a virtual product preview at 10:00 a.m. EDT, Friday, August 21.

Bob Crain, senior vice president and general manager for AGCO North America, says:

“These exciting new Fendt offerings represent the next chapter for AGCO, our growing dealer network and, most importantly, our current and soon-to-be customers. For the first time, we’re offering a comprehensive line of Fendt tractors in North America to serve the needs of livestock and hay producers and those with large-acreage crop operations.

“Fendt represents excellence, efficiency, reliability, quality and passion to AGCO, our dealers and our customers. We take these values seriously, and when we introduce products with the Fendt name, they must deliver on all of these values. We’re confident these new tractors along with the Momentum^® planter and IDEAL^® combines do just that.”

The latest equipment from Fendt includes:

Fendt with Tracks. Two new track tractors include the Fendt 900 Vario MT and Fendt 1100 Vario MT tractors with Fendt iD low-rev engine management; smooth, stepless VarioDrive continuously variable transmission (CVT); and the smooth-riding, patented MTS Smart Ride track system.

The Fendt 900 Vario MT includes three models that range from 380 HP to 431 HP. The AGCO Power 9.8-liter, high-power, low-rev diesel engine mated to a Fendt VarioDrive stepless CVT transmission develops 1,500 foot-pounds of torque at 1,100 rpm.

The Fendt 1100 Vario MT tractors range from 511 to 673 HP with four models including the 1167 Vario MT, the largest two-tracked tractor in the market with 673 HP. It is powered by a MAN 6-cylinder, 16.2L diesel engine that generates more than 2,000 foot pounds of torque at 1,110 rpm. Fuel efficiency, power and ride comfort in these machines take track tractor performance to a new level. An innovative steerable hitch is an available option to improve steering and ride when turning with expansive tillage tools and planters.

IDEAL 10 and 10T Combines. The combine with the highest horsepower and the largest separation capacity in North America rides on the same nimble 11.5-foot-wide chassis as the IDEAL 9. The wheeled 10 and tracked 10T are powered by a MAN 16.2-liter diesel engine that delivers 790 horsepower. The separation area in the IDEAL 10 is 12 percent larger and harvest capacity is 20 percent greater than the IDEAL 9.

Fendt 700 Gen 6 tractors. Six models of the new Fendt 700 Gen 6 tractor carry out multiple duties farm-wide. They can adjust for narrow or wide row spacings and feature a Deutz 6.06-liter, six-cylinder diesel engine that delivers 144 to 237 horsepower. They also feature the new FendtONE interface that lets operators customize their preferences for each use.

Fendt 300 Vario mid-range tractors. The fourth-generation Fendt 300 Vario is a mid-range tractor with a class-leading power-to-weight ratio and a nimble 13-foot turning radius. Its four models are powered by 4.4-liter AGCO Power engines that range from 100 horsepower to 132 horsepower. The Fendt 314, the largest model in the family, can reach 142 horsepower with the Fendt DynamicPerformance power boost when the task calls for more power.

AGCO invests heavily in fast-growing Fendt dealer network

Crain adds that Fendt tractors have been sold in North America since 1998 and that 2020 is also the 30^th anniversary of AGCO as a company. Progress has been swift during these three decades.

he says:

“AGCO now has 206 Fendt dealership locations and counting in 29 states and 9 provinces, an increase of more than 80 locations since we began investing in our dealership expansion in 2018. We’ve worked hard to place dealers in areas that best serve current Fendt owners and prospective buyers. We will continue investing in additional dealerships. Our existing Fendt dealers are excited about these new products, and our new Fendt dealers have been working hard preparing to bring new customers into the Fendt family with support, service and sales indicative of the Fendt legacy.”

Commitment to owner satisfaction, success from design to dealerships

The Fendt commitment to an excellent ownership experience goes from the engineering drawing board to far beyond the dealership door. Each Fendt is backed by Fendt Gold Star Customer Care, which assures additional value and more uptime. Gold Star provides a full warranty with no deductible for 36 months or 3,000 hours for tractors, and 36 months or 1,200 hours for IDEAL combines. Gold Star also covers all scheduled maintenance, including the cost of oil, filters, belts and other maintenance items needed during the warranty period. Fendt dealers also offer industry-leading parts support with a dealer-facing fill rate of more than 98%. If a crucial part isn’t available from a dealer, it will be shipped via the fastest method possible from the nearest AGCO Parts Distribution Center or the factory.

Highly trained Fendt technicians use the latest technology to quickly diagnose problems on the farm or in the shop to save Fendt owners time and money through reduced downtime and lower service fees.

Crain says:

“Since its inception more than 90 years ago, Fendt has combined craftsmanship with engineering, while listening to customers and solving their problems without sacrificing quality or reliability. The products you see today reflect this history and bring farmers new technologies that increase fuel efficiency, enhance ease of operation, increase comfort and reduce per-acre operating costs. They fully embody Fendt and AGCO ideals and help farmers improve their operations while delivering unmatched performance and return on investment.”

Source: AGCO

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This year, AGCO Corporation is enhancing its crop tour with an application-focused study in addition to dedicated tillage and planting crop tours. AGCO and its dealers have invested in crop tours as a means to better understand the agronomic impact that equipment options, settings, and practices can have on yield and ultimately grower profitability.

There will be three unique application crop tour plots located in the US, including a cotton plot in Tifton, Georgia and two soybean plots in the Midwest – one in Farmer City, Illinois and another in Vincent, Iowa.  The application crop tour is geared to gather data and insights that will help educate growers and commercial applicators on the impact of key variables in the application process.

Four overarching protocols will be administered and reviewed during the 2020 growing season:

• Boom Height – How varied boom heights affect spray efficacy, consistency and accuracy
• Boom Contamination – Contamination and the risk of crop damage
• Boom Priming – The risks and impacts associated with boom priming, weed resistance and crop damage
• Nozzle Selection and Droplet Size – How proper selection of nozzles for speed and droplet size impact the application.

David Webster, application director at AGCO, is excited about the idea of demonstrating these impacts.

“If you think about the significant input costs a grower has with herbicide, pesticide and fungicide, it is critically important that the job gets done with a high degree of quality.  It’s really all about efficacy, and that’s what we’re looking to showcase with these plots,”

Webster said.

The application team will utilize several methodologies to measure the impact of the variables, and ultimately, yield results.  Over the next several months, AGCO will be releasing digital content related to the tours, including video, photos, and discussion related to the application protocols and the results they’re seeing in the field.

For more information, go to applylikeapro.com/crop-tour.

Source: AGCO

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The AGCO Agriculture Foundation (AAF), a private foundation committed to ending hunger through sustainable agricultural development, is expanding its COVID-19 Aid Program to support four non-profit organizations in North America.

The COVID-19 Aid Program has committed $500,000 in funding to non-profit organizations since its launch last month. The amount of grant funding in North America is $78,300, and the funds will be used in communities where AGCO’s customers, dealers, suppliers, and employees live and work.

Metti Richenhagen, Managing Director, AGCO Agriculture Foundation, said:

“The AGCO Agriculture Foundation is committed to making long-term impacts in our vulnerable communities as the presence of COVID-19 calls for ongoing support. We are proud to provide local funding to support local resources and initiatives to help people in North America who are impacted by the pandemic and economic uncertainty.”

Each non-profit organization will utilize the donation differently to provide the greatest impacts on their communities. The recipients include:

• Feeding America
  Feeding America responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with a national food- and fund-raising effort to support people facing hunger and the food banks that help them. Feeding America has also partnered with school districts and local government agencies to ensure the 22 million children who rely on school meals have access to food outside the classroom. The AAF will provide Feeding America with $52,200 across six locations. For more information, please see www.feedingamerica.org.
• Flint River Fresh
  Flint River Fresh launched a Produce Box pilot program in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Albany, GA residents will receive a hot meal purchased from a locally owned restaurant and a box of fresh, healthy produce, sourced directly from Flint River Fresh community sites in Albany and emphasizing Georgia Grown for supplemental produce. The AAF will provide Flint River Fresh with $8,700. For more information, please see www.flintriverfresh.org.
• Kane County Farm Bureau Foundation
  Kane County, IL farmers have proven farming is essentially a humanitarian enterprise through the Foundation’s Harvest for ALL hunger relief effort. The Food Forward program gets kids excited about the industry and teaching them how their food is raised. The donation will also aid the Ag Literacy initiatives to educate the Kane County community at all levels on food, nutrition, and the latest technology in agriculture. The AAF will provide Kane County Farm Bureau Foundation with $8,700. For more information, please see www.kanecountyfarmbureau.com.
• Peoria Area Food Bank
  Peoria Area Food Bank provides 80 pantries, soup kitchens, and homeless shelters in Illinois with large quantities of food from name-brand manufacturers and USDA commodities on a daily basis. They also operate two mobile food pantries in Mason County and assist eight pantries that provide backpacks to hundreds of children on the weekend. The backpacks are dispersed to qualifying children on Friday afternoon by various schools. The AAF will provide Peoria Area Food Bank with $8,700. For more information, please see www.peoriafoodbank.org.

Bob Crain, Senior Vice President and General Manager of AGCO North America, said:

“AGCO’s mission is to support farmers and ranchers across North America in any way we can. We firmly believe that the agriculture industry is essential, and our top priority is maintaining access to food throughout the COVID-19 pandemic fight.”

Source: AGCO

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AGCO Agriculture Foundation (AAF) has announced a new partnership with the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) to pilot an initiative that will assist in meeting agricultural and nutritional demands at one of Africa’s largest refugee camps.

Against a population of over 200,000 registered refugees, asylum-seekers and the host community, the partnership will address a combination of factors influencing local food production and supply of food aid, such as climate-related impacts, the poor performance of crops and livestock, and the lack of access to modern agricultural systems.

“We understand the urgent need for sustainable alternative sources of food production to combat the local food shortage. Our foundation is thrilled to be a strategic funding partner to foster Dadaab’s agricultural development, which aligns perfectly with our objective of making a smart impact on marginalized farming communities,”

says Metti Richenhagen, Managing Director, AGCO Agriculture Foundation.

The AGCO Agriculture Foundation’s funding is geared towards the future establishment of an 85-acre mechanized farm for pivot-irrigation and crop production. The pivot farm project will produce and preserve pasture for livestock and develop alfalfa for high-quality protein animal feed. The initiative introduces sustainable agricultural operations around the camps, including modern farming techniques, mechanization and irrigation solutions, and soil cover for reduced water loss.

The Dadaab refugee complex consists of three open camps while two camps were permanently closed following the repatriation of refugees and camp consolidation by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). UNHCR together with the Kenya Red Cross Society, as the leading humanitarian agency across the continent, still operates health intervention and environmental rehabilitation in the refugee complex.

“Securing livelihoods of the most vulnerable populations remains a key focus of the Kenya Red Cross Society, and food security has been a major challenge in the Dadaab Refugee camp and its environs. We, therefore, appreciate the AGCO Agriculture Foundation for this timely intervention that seeks to increase pasture production, food production, nutrition and reduce food security crisis for the refugees and host community,”

says Dr. Asha Mohammed, the Kenya Red Cross Society Secretary-General.

The new agriculture initiative will be implemented in conjunction with the UNHCR and also the Kenya County Government of Garissa.

“Our partnership with the KRCS and aim to jointly foster local development for food security in Dadaab also caught the attention of Mechan Groep in the Netherlands. As a leading distributor of agricultural machines and equipment, the organization supports this AAF initiative closely related to their business of farming,”

adds Richenhagen.

Source: AGCO

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AGCO Corporation introduces the new Fendt Momentum planter to North American row crop producers. The revolutionary design and versatility of this planter establish a new standard for seed placement accuracy and provide technologies to help overcome planting conditions that have historically challenged even emergence and resulted in less than optimum crop yields.

Alex Lundgren, product manager, Global Crop Care, Seeding & Tillage at AGCO, says:

“Row crop producers know an evenly emerged, picket-fence stand planted during the ‘ideal planting window’ is a critical first step for optimum yields. However, at planting there are many agronomic and operational challenges that can be beyond their control. That’s why it is important to control what we can, when we can”.

Rex Schertz, engineering manager, Seeding & Tillage at AGCO says:

“Providing producers greater control at planting is why AGCO has developed the Fendt Momentum planter delivered with AGCO-exclusive SmartFrame technology. The Momentum planter is the most agronomically advanced planter available worldwide and the latest solution from AGCO to help producers overcome production challenges and optimize their productivity”.

Source: AGCO Industries

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Established in 2010 as a result of the tremendous demand among Atlanta-area refugees looking to reconnect to their agricultural heritage, GGN is building a healthy and diverse community food system, manages eight garden sites, helps growers access markets for their products and offers educational opportunities and technical expertise.

The AAF funding assists marginalized growers with an ecosystem of support to grow healthy food for nutritional demands in metro Atlanta communities and to create a platform for the enhancement of capacity building and skill development in farming.

Metti Richenhagen, Managing Director, AGCO Agriculture Foundation said:

“The partnership arrangement between our foundation and Global Growers Network will renovate and relaunch the Clarkston International Garden as a flagship multicultural agriculture learning center in the heart of Atlanta’s refugee community. We will work with GGN to transform the garden from a community garden to a demonstration and educational learning center for sustainable, small-scale agriculture,”

Robin Chanin, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Global Growers Network adds:

“The renovation and relaunch of the Clarkston International Garden will include a new ecological landscaping design to accommodate new garden plots for diverse Clarkston families to grow food for their families and their community. This innovative partnership with the AGCO Agriculture Foundation will not only enrich the lives of the growers who farm here, but also the entire community,”

Interpretive signage will be installed within the center to enable the garden families and visitors to learn about local food production, edible landscaping, rainwater capture, composting and other sustainable farm operations. The center will also contain an educational pavilion for hosting educational workshops, volunteer activities, corporate engagement and community programs.

Source: AgCo

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