This prestigious acknowledgment was the culmination of research conducted in partnership
with the National Biodiesel Board and National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) and focused
on different biodiesel blends and their effects on FPT’s latest North America product range.

In particular, the NBB-funded research involved a NEF six-cylinder engine certified to U.S. EPA Tier 4 Final, which was endurance-tested at the NREL lab in Colorado.

The final results, presented in Kansas City, showed positive results in FPT Industrial engines’ ability to operate with different biodiesel blends. The project also highlighted the need to approve similar projects in order to expand usage to further reduce the agroindustry’s dependence on fossil fuels.

“I am pleased to see that this partnership generated valuable data for our research and development activities. We also gained recognition in the industry for our efforts. This project really shows what’s possible when we leverage our external partnerships to push forward change in our industries together,”

comments Chris Walters, head of Regulatory Affairs Engine Emissions at CNH Industrial.

The post FPT Industrial Wins the “Researcher of the Year” Award for its Outstanding Impact on Biodiesel Research appeared first on North America FarmQuip Magazine.

STARGATE research project develops a breakthrough, multiscale, and holistic climate-smart agriculture (CSA) methodology, capitalizing innovations in the field of microclimate and weather risk management, as well as in the field of landscape design.

STARGATE is based on earth observation, weather intelligence, and IoT technologies to support effective farm management and related options for adaptation to climatic changes, local and regional policy formulation leading to better landscape management.

The project implements the Living Lab approach by connecting research organizations, policy-making organizations, ICT companies, farmers, and other stakeholders to shape a CSA multi-actor regional framework. Moreover, STARGATE studies the benefits of applying agri-environmental-climate technical solutions to achieve sustainable agricultural development at the field and landscape level including livestock farming and agroforestry.

STARGATE is leveraging access to these data and climate-smart decisions tools to foster easy and affordable adoption by farm management and policymaking bodies.

Furthermore, STARGATE provides innovative components for the visualization of big data with an emphasis on geospatial visualization and dynamic charting. Additionally, the project has been designed so that its results may be further developed in other projects, or adapted to broader contexts, providing opportunities for influencing policies.

The project is well in symphony with the required actions to support sustainable agriculture, and resilient agricultural management and will run until September 2023 involving 26 partners from Greece, Czech Republic, Israel, Spain, Latvia, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Portugal, Poland, Germany, Norway, and Belgium.

The post Research on Climate-Smart Agricultural Practices has a Primary Role in Sustainable Agriculture appeared first on North America FarmQuip Magazine.

Although the equipment sectors that AEM represents have historically been hesitant to adopt innovative technologies, they are set for a significant amount of change, as autonomous vehicles (AV) dramatically alter the nature of the work. Future off-road autonomous equipment will handle the cycle of operation and cyclical tasks, while teleguided machines are maneuvered by operators, sometimes in simulators thousands of miles away.

History of autonomous equipment

The first autonomous testing began in Japan in 1990. However, the process actually began with the release of the Field Management Software (FMS) for mines in the late 1980s, and it became the foundation for Komatsu’s autonomous platform. The first commercial deployment was in Chile in 2007. Just a year later, in 2008, another system was launched at a Western Australia iron ore mining operation. From a remote operations center in Perth, Western Australia, workers operate autonomous mining vehicles at mines more than 1,200 kilometers away. Finally, in 2013, Komatsu introduced the world’s first dozer with fully automatic blade control.

The lessons learned from those applications eventually led to the first North American deployment in 2016. By 2018, Komatsu had moved over 2 billion tons, with 130 fully autonomous mining trucks running across seven operational sites (six of which are fully autonomous sites). As of June 2020, those numbers have jumped to 3 billion tons moved by 251 trucks, and the fleet still currently maintains a perfect safety record with no incidents.

As another example of the exponential rate this industry is developing, Caterpillar has doubled the amount hauled in the 16 months since reaching 1 billion tons hauled in November of 2018. To date, Caterpillar has 276 autonomous trucks in operation have driven over 42 million miles without a lost-time injury.

The current status of autonomous equipment

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) currently hold a market share of less than 1% of total construction equipment sales worldwide. However, given global equipment sales are projected to grow 2.5% each year until 2022, coupled with the exponential growth in adoption of AVs, the market share is expected to double in size in the next two years.

Automated shuttle buses are in use in many countries. As mentioned above, autonomous heavy haulers are already in use in mining in several countries, with automated agricultural and forestry equipment currently being developed as well. While a blend of GPS and other location-tracking sensors, image sensors, and telematics assist John Deere vehicles to navigate fields today, the company still can’t truly replicate everything a human would see and feel sitting in the tractor cab. The determining factors here are farmer perception and added value. This will remain the case until more tasks, and not just movement, become automated.

Meanwhile, the forestry sector has seen limited progress with automation – largely due to working conditions being over considerably larger areas than those experienced by the other sectors. Worksites are often in remote areas, on steep slopes, and in very rugged and variable terrain. In these remote areas, there are generally no cell towers and no Wi-Fi, and communication is currently expensive with limited bandwidth. The next generation of very large fleets of low earth orbit (LEO) satellites, however, is expected to address this problem.

Designed in partnership with Swedish engineering company Sandvik, the Syama underground gold mine became the world’s first fully-autonomous mine operation. It operates with fully automated trucks, loaders, and drills. The fully autonomous operation means that the mine can operate 24 hours a day, with all operations overseen from a remote operation center.

Some companies are applying self-driving construction machinery to do repetitive tasks, such as pouring concrete, bricklaying, welding, and even demolition. Excavation and other prep work are also being completed by autonomous or semi-autonomous bulldozers, which can ready a job site with the help of a human programmer to exact specifications. One company, which works in heavy civil construction and grading, used Built Robotics-equipped dozers to finish housing pads in residential development.

“Built’s autonomous dozer is the real deal, and we’ve had it finish-grade hundreds of pads so far,”

said Eric McCosker, project manager at Independent Construction.

“Given the shortage of skilled hands in our area, that’s added production we’ve needed.”

Nuts and bolts

The challenges for autonomous off-road equipment vary significantly from passenger vehicles. In a farm field or construction site, lane markers or curbs are not present to assist with vision, nor is there a LiDAR system to reference to sustain the vehicle on a required track. Moreover, automobiles do not have projections like booms and buckets, nor can most rotate on their undercarriage like a shovel. Systems for an off-road machine need to know exactly where they are, their bearing, and where their attachments are located.

Precision excavation is just what the name implies. First, the machine needs to know where it is and its orientation. In North America, we are most familiar with global positioning system (GPS) technology. As you have seen firsthand if you have used a smartphone navigation app, regular GPS is only accurate to about 6-10 meters, and it cannot provide heading information unless the vehicle is in motion. These limitations are addressed using either Differential GPS (DGPS) or Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) GPS. DGPS and RTK both require a local stationary GPS receiver, for which its location is precisely known. The stationary receiver compares its known location to its location as calculated by the GPS receiver.

From this information, it can generate corrections, which it transmits to the other mobile GPS receivers located on the vehicle, resulting in a much more accurate solution around 10 to 30 centimeters. The heading limitation of GPS is overcome by using two GPS receivers on the machine, with antennas separated in space by some reasonable distance (1 to 2 meters). The absolute position of receiver 1 to receiver 2 antennae is used to calculate the absolute heading.

To supplement GPS and RTK, an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) is installed in the vehicle, usually centrally located to the vehicle. An inertial measurement unit measures three-dimensions of linear acceleration (3D Accelerometer) and three-dimensions of rotational rate (3D Gyro), and sometimes also a 3D magnetic field. In highly controlled work zones, the primary decision-making software and algorithms will reside in a centralized control facility and will probably include real-time human monitoring and oversight of site operation. The autonomous trucks operate with such repeatable precision that the engineers are now incorporating “vectoring,” where an algorithm shifts the haulage route laterally a meter or so to keep the trucks from wearing ruts in the haul road.

In comparison to the applications in mining, agricultural robots are often small or mid-sized and are designed to autonomously navigate and automatically take some precise plant-specific action. Machine vision technology is often a core competency of these robots, enabling the robots to see, identify, localize, and take some intelligent site-specific action on individual plants. Machine vision increasingly uses deep learning algorithms often trained on expert-annotated image datasets, allowing the technology to far exceed the performance of conventional algorithms, as well as to match or even exceed that of expert agronomists.

For instance, Continental is developing concepts for robots that can be fitted modularly for agricultural purposes, operates autonomously, and can be used with the appropriate attachments to perform numerous tasks, such as monitoring the growth process of plants, precise weeding, or systematically sowing seeds and delivering nutrients. Camera-based, multispectral, or thermographic sensors are particularly important for monitoring plant growth or soil conditions.

Many robots have already grown in capability, offering faster speeds, higher frame-per-seconds, more ruggedized designs, higher on-board energy for longer operation time and a heavier load, and so on. Simple robotic implements utilizing basic row-following vision technology, are already mature and not uncommon in organic farms. Advances in vision technology are transforming tractor-pulled implements, upgrading them into intelligent computerized tools able to take plant-specific precise action.

This approach does not focus on autonomy, although the tractor itself can readily be made autonomous to render the entire system automatic if necessary. This system is designed to become competitive in large farms, which demand high productivity, which in turn is linked to technology parameters such as fps (frame per second), false positives, sprayer controller speed, and so on. In the future, the system costs will likely fall, particularly if lighter versions of the algorithms on the inference side become available to render GPU processors unessential without a major performance sacrifice.

Although a rich assortment of technologies is available to AV designers—radar, GPS, GNSS, LiDAR, ultrasonic, infrared, and video, a confounding problem that inhibits off-road equipment from an easy path to autonomy is dust, dirt, and other weather conditions. Not only does the weather change how the machine should act in its environment, but it also reduces the accuracy of the sensors. One solution might come in redundancy—more sensors that could be used as a backup.

Benefits – Addressing Workforce needs

Moving toward autonomous solutions may help ease the operator shortage.

“Finding experienced talent in application areas is often a challenge. Autonomous applications can provide employment opportunities to a new workforce for those with physical disabilities and wounded veterans, creating a value-added job for someone who wants to work but may face challenges in physically operating a machine. Technology and automation make the role of equipment operator more widely accessible.”

said Fred Rio, construction digital and technology product manager, Caterpillar.

“All this technology, bit data, and analytics will actually increase the number of jobs in more analytical work, it is a change from trade jobs to more analytical ones.”

Senior Lecturer with Curtin University’s School of the Mines Dr. Carla Boehl said students are being proactive in learning about then-new technology.

“The students themselves are interested, they want to do their thesis in this field and learn more about automation. At a post-graduate level, we are starting to do more work regarding maintenance, automation, we do a lot of big data understanding, what is big data, what algorithms can be used to support systems,”

she said.

Benefits – productivity

“Using the machine autonomously improves productivity. The machine uses less fuel and moves more efficiently, which prolongs the life of the machine, reduces maintenance, and prevents unnecessary wear and tear. On average, a robotic piece of equipment from Built runs at the same speed and responsiveness as one being used manually by a person,”

said Erol Ahmed, director of communications for Built Robotics.

By automating some tasks, skilled workers can work on more complex tasks or move to areas where they are needed most. Equipment automation also allows job sites to run beyond normal operating hours (e.g., at night) and perform tasks in parallel so they can be done more quickly.

Autonomous machines can alter the economics of machine design, facilitating the increase of smaller machines. Indeed, this elimination of the driver overhead per vehicle is the basis of the swarm concept. There is clearly a large productivity gap today between current large and high-power vehicles and those composed of fleets of small robots. This productivity gap, however, can narrow, as the latter has substantial room for improvement.

“When we develop robots, people always say they should increase yields or lower costs, but that’s not always the case. Robots that offer the farmer time to devote attention to business and management also have economic value,”

said Eldert van Henten, a professor in Wageningen University’s Farm Technology Group.

Benefits – Reduced Costs

Construction and mining technology investor Fundamental reports an average increase in mine productivity of 30% with AV’s via:

• Longer production hours
• Reduced load and unit cost of 15%
• Improved tire life of 40%, since optimized controls reduce sudden acceleration and abrupt steering.

While autonomous hauling system implementation would cost on average $13 million at a site with 10 trucks and 15 ancillary vehicles, the total benefits are calculated to be $19 million. This indicates that investment into autonomous technology ultimately pays off.

The first major agriculture target market is in weeding. Precision action reduces the consumption of agrochemicals by 90% compared to untargeted applications. It also improves yield (e.g., by 5-10%) because collateral damage of the crops by the untargeted chemical application can be minimized. This technology can further enable farmers to tackle herbicide-resistant weeds, which are a growing problem. Finally, the robots leave behind no unusable compacted soil.

Benefits – Safety

As noted above, in the 13 years of autonomous equipment operation, between Komatsu and Caterpillar, they have moved over five billion tons of material, and Caterpillar alone has logged over 42 million miles with zero hauler-related incidents or lost time injuries. In contrast, a recent Department of Mines study analyzed the deaths of 52 miners over the past 12 years, finding worker fatigue and inexperience with mining risks to be the biggest cause of accidents. In a report that CAVCOE co-authored, they predicted that with full deployment of autonomous and connected vehicles, 80 percent of traffic collisions, fatalities and injuries could be eliminated. Autonomous machines can perform remote or difficult work, which helps keep people out of harm’s way.

To date, most large autonomous machines are operated in restricted facilities where proximity to the automated equipment is controlled and extremely limited. Sensor technology and processing capabilities need to advance further to be able to identify many of the potential obstacles that must be avoided. The safety of autonomous systems is of utmost importance.

Obstructions

The market is certainly there. The productivity gains are meaningful. Cost savings are realized. So, one might wonder, is there a catch? Traditionally, construction has had a complicated relationship with technology, but the shortage of skilled labor coupled with the surging demand for building projects has forced the industry to re-evaluate that relationship to make up the shortfall.

Possible Futures

In the next five years, we can expect the trend toward automation and electrification to accelerate from low levels to noticeable levels. Within 10 to 15 years, based on exponential trends, it is estimated that more than 80% of heavy equipment machinery will be powered by electric powertrains and have systems centric to autonomous operation. A few heavy equipment end-users have already expressed a desire for fully autonomous worksites and electric equipment, as this helps them to lower overall costs and to meet efficiency and environmental targets. The indications are that it is a no-brainer for heavy equipment operations to transition to fully autonomous and electric operations at the earliest commercially viable opportunity.

For ag, the key to commercial success lies in the development of robust robotic and associated artificial intelligence (AI) platforms that can be utilized across the harvesting season of different crops. This approach is already reflected in the latest prototypes or products on the market.

Autonomous haulage systems (AHS) will have a pronounced impact on future mining operations. Driverless trucks run continuously and more efficiently than their manned counterparts. AHS will improve everything associated with the mining operation, from safety to operations to maintenance. They will also change the approach to mine planning and scheduling. The 8-hour production shift, for example, was based on miner fatigue levels. Production shifts in the future might be based on the refueling needs of the excavator. Or, in fact, they might disappear entirely.

In the next five years, given the current state of AV technology in general, it is difficult to envisage any significant changes in this time frame. A construction project, for example, frequently involves operation close to existing structures, workers on the ground, or an environment where there may be material delivery and site visits from “civilians” who do not have the proper training to safely navigate a site shared with autonomous equipment. The current and near-future of AV technology are not really designed for these use cases.

Looking 5-10 years ahead, AV technology will start to be introduced for certain tasks, such as automated snowplows on long lanes, in agriculture, and in the other sectors for moving a large number of items (i.e. timber, pallets, bales, etc.)  from point A to point B, especially those that travel a significant distance.

By about 2030, it is expected that AI will have reached a point where its capability exceeds that of a human for many tasks, including operating off-road equipment. The technology will allow most, if not all, of the applications to be automated. This will likely be achieved by a significant redesign of machines (cabless), rather than by a humanoid robot operating the current generation of vehicles.

Since AVs are very suited to electrical propulsion, the other major trend that AEM members should be aware of is the move away from traditional fossil fuel propulsion to battery electric vehicles. Although, fuel cells and hydrogen power are a possible alternative.

The Bottom Line

The world is progressing in the direction of automation in its many different configurations. The innovations in sensors, artificial intelligence, and connectivity, coupled with productivity increases and other benefits, will transform the equipment industry. The outcome will not be the abrupt influx of automated heavy equipment in all sectors of the market. As an alternative, there will be incremental advances, such as driver assistance systems, and certain applications within each market will be automated first simply because they are easier to automate.

The total deployed number of units is minor compared to the conceivable market. However, the technical viability is long proven. Notably, there is abundant room to increase productivity and to expand applicability by making constant gains within established technologies. As such, it is more a question of timing and not of technical viability.

The second generation of products has already matured compared to the first, in terms of design, size, AI, speed, and so on. The iterations will continue. Now, the task at hand is to be open to new technologies and — perhaps more importantly — see it as an added value, not a competition.

The post Autonomous Equipment: Examining the Path Toward a Driverless Tomorrow appeared first on North America FarmQuip Magazine.

The study was carried out on three farms in Italy equipped with Lely Vector systems. The blocks were cut from the silage with a silage cutter and placed in the feed kitchen. Three blocks per kitchen were then fitted with temperature sensors. Temperature and humidity sensors were also installed in the feed kitchens and outside, which created a clear picture of the influence of the outside temperature on the heating of the corn blocks.

In order to scientifically assess the quality of the feed, an independent laboratory-measured sample of the silage blocks using Flieg’s score. The quality of new samples was measured in the same way after three days and after seven days.

Results

The temperature of the corn blocks only rose by 2 ºC in three days, even though the average outside temperature was more than 30 ºC. Flieg’s score showed no change, even after seven days. This means accurate ensilaged roughage can be stored in blocks in a feed kitchen for several days without losing quality, even in hot weather.

Source: Lely

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Alliance 372 VF is a radial steel-belted tire for tractors, combines, harvesters, and some slurry tankers. The tire goes with the 10-year warranty, D speed rating, and is available in 28 sizes – which is the biggest variety of VF tractor sizes in the industry!

Tire upgrade “put to the test”

The Alliance 372 VF received a construction and design upgrade in early 2019. The improved stubble guard compound as well as special tread compounds for wear, cut and chip resistance was used for the new version of the tire. These upgrades ensure high structural stability and reliable heat resistance during the cycling field operations (CFO) even at 0.8 bar inflation pressure. The updated tire has got rounded lug shoulders, a larger footprint, and higher lug angles for better soil protection and self-cleaning.

Gerrit Vinkers, Application Specialist Europe at Alliance Tire Group, says:

“The recent field tests at IRSTEA were conducted on behalf of our R&D department to test the latest improvements to the tire. In the course of transforming the complete Alliance IF tire portfolio to VF, our engineers looked for additional features to further enhance soil protection, improve tire performance and reduce structural strains in these highly flexible tires.”

Four parameters – clear results

IRSTEA performed four field tests under defined conditions: fuel efficiency, traction, slip in soft soil, and footprint width. The Alliance 372 VF and IF tires were tested against 2 similar patterns from the Premium brands in IF and VF construction in the same sizes: 600/70R30 (front) and 710/70R42 (rear). Tire inflation pressure was kept constant at 1.6 bar for the front tires whilst the load was varied between 4375 daN (IF) and 5150 daN (VF). For the rear tires, the load was kept constant at 4875 daN whilst tire inflation pressure varied between 1 bar (IF) and 0.8 bar (VF). While reading the test results, the performance of the Alliance IF tire is used as the reference baseline – or 100%.

Fuel efficiency: With a relative result of 104 and 107 % for both tires, Alliance 372 VF matches the competitor’s premium VF tire fuel efficiency level and clearly outperforms all IF tires.

Traction: Ranking a very close second to the competitor’s premium VF tire in the rear option, the Alliance 372 VF delivered more powerful traction than the competitors’ premium IF tires.

Slip in soft soil: With its excellent test value, the Alliance 372 VF is in the lead in terms of lower slip. In relative figures, the performance of the Alliance 372 VF rear size tire is 118 % of the baseline figure compared to 112 % for the competitor’s premium VF tire, and 63 and 58 %, respectively, for the two competitors’ premium IF tires.

Footprint: Alliance 372 VF scores 110% for the rear size tire in comparison with 112% for a Premium competition tire. The front size tire is slightly narrower than the competition: 104% versus 113 and 123% respectively.

Test results for Alliance 372 VF vs Premium Competition, Size: 710/70R42

The general conclusion of the tests: Alliance 372 VF performs in line with the Premium competition VF tires and better than Premium IF tires. Given that Alliance 372 VF comes at a significantly lower price point than the premium competitors’ IF and VF tires, the overall test results reveal an excellent value for money with Alliance.

“Cutting edge technology, customer benefits, and value for money have always been at the forefront of our thinking. As our flagship tractor tire in VF technology, Alliance 372 VF is a perfect example of how low total cost of ownership translates in terms of Price–Performance ratio in the slogan of Alliance Tire Group: Better Value. Smarter Choice”,

says Angelo Noronha, President EMEA of Alliance Tire Group.

Alliance 372 VF is available with Kirkby Tyres – the exclusive importer of the Alliance products in the UK & Ireland.

The post ATG Tire Updates Tractor Tire Alliance 372 VF appeared first on North America FarmQuip Magazine.

Research from Hexagon’s Autonomy & Positioning division has resulted in breakthrough innovations in precise point positioning (PPP) that enable nearly instant global centimeter-level accuracy. These developments pave the way to bring “RTK From the Sky” performance to worldwide users through correction service products and GNSS receivers from Hexagon.

“RTK From the Sky” technology provides the quick accuracy of an RTK solution with the high accessibility and availability of PPP. Users will no longer have geographic or regional infrastructure restrictions – they will be free to operate anywhere around the world with the same premium level of positioning performance. “RTK From the Sky” technology removes the traditional PPP barrier of long convergence times as well as internet and radio communication limitations, delivering instantaneous convergence anywhere in the world. This breakthrough establishes the foundation for assured positioning with no downtime in marine, agriculture, and autonomous applications.

To achieve these results, there must be masterful attention to detail throughout the entire positioning ecosystem: no errors conveniently canceled and no errors ignored. All errors are carefully estimated and removed from the final GNSS position faster and more reliably than ever before. This end-to-end fine-tuning of measurement quality and error mitigation establishes the foundation for “RTK From the Sky” performance. No matter the location or application, users will be able to rely upon the highest availability and accuracy of corrections anywhere in the world, without the convergence time.

“In 2020, PPP has become RTK – without the mobility limitations, ‘RTK From the Sky’ has been a very satisfying development. To see this kind of positioning performance available anywhere in the world is the realization of the next step of innovation for GNSS.”

said Sandy Kennedy, VP of Innovation at Hexagon’s Autonomy & Positioning division.

The post Hexagon’s “RTK From the Sky” brings instant GNSS accuracy worldwide appeared first on North America FarmQuip Magazine.

The COVID emergency has given new centrality to agriculture which, unlike other productive activities, has shown greater resilience in the face of the pandemic. In a global environment characterized by a generalized decline in many sectors, which resulted in a significant drop in world GDP (-4.5% at the end of the year according to the OECD), the primary sector instead increased its production capacity. This fact is highlighted by Alessandro Malavolti, president of FederUnacoma, the Italian association of manufacturers of agricultural machinery, who at the Federation’s Annual General Meeting held today in Bologna took stock of the main trends in the primary sector and the market of agricultural machinery. According to FAO estimates – noted the president of FederUnacoma – in 2020 global grain production should reach a record value of 2,756 million tonnes (+2.2% in 2019), with an increase also in demand (+2.4%) and world trade (+1.6%). Milk production was also positive (+0.8%), while meat recorded a drop of 1.7% due to contingent factors. The prices of the main commodities also rose, with meat, poultry, and rice showing increases of 8.3%, 7.7%, and 8.2% respectively.

The food insecurity created by the pandemic – according to the FAO, by 2020 the number of undernourished people could grow by 130 million – and the growing demand for food in different areas of the world give agriculture, and with it agricultural mechanization, an increasingly strategic role also to guarantee social stability. “In this landscape – said the president of FederUnacoma – agricultural machines are an essential tool for enhancing production and safeguarding the territory. In fact, thanks to the research and innovation activities of our industries, today’s mechanical machines use more and more eco-friendly technologies, also in line with the political priorities formulated by the European Commissioner Ursula Von DerLeyen“. Despite this strategic role, today the world mechanization market is experiencing a transition phase, with different trends from country to country. The first half of the year saw an increase in tractor sales in the United States (+10.4%) and Russia (+7%), certain stability in Canada (+0.3%), and a setback in Brazil (-5%). The most significant decreases are recorded in the Asian markets: Japan (-29.5%), Korea (-7.3%), and especially India (-11.3%). Turkey is a case to itself, recording a 75% increase as a rebound after the collapse of recent years. The minus sign prevails in Europe where the market contraction amounted to 12.1%, corresponding to 68,831 registered tractors. The Italian market was in the red, even if the month of August showed a slight recovery compared to the six-monthly figure, bringing the deficit for the first eight months of the year to 15% (in June it was 18%).

Despite the climate of uncertainty, the August figure seems to foreshadow a possible trend reversal, which is confirmed for Europe as well as for Italy in the recent climate surveys conducted by CEMA, the European manufacturers’ association.

“To ferry the sector out of this situation – added Malavolti – it is essential to assert the strategic role of agricultural machinery. In Italy there is a need for a system of incentives that help the market recovery, especially with a view to technological renewal and innovation; a system based on long-term planning, that is independent of economic and political contingencies”.

In recent months FederUnacoma has presented to the Government a multi-year incentive plan for the purchase of new mechanical machinery. Today we renew this action with the request to allocate part of the funds to be distributed under the Recovery Fund to the agricultural machinery sector.

The post Agricultural machinery: market recovering due to the rise in food demand appeared first on North America FarmQuip Magazine.

Through extensive knowledge and continuing market, soil and equipment research, we have focused on three areas where farmers have been forced to accept compromise in strip-till.

• Dependability
  • High-acre professional farmers cannot accept a compromise of anything less than the level of machinery they get from their primary OEM.
  • AGuru Machinery provides engineered strength, backed by high level manufacturing quality, for long machine life and low long term costs.
• Productivity
  • In extensive conversations with strip-tillers throughout the Corn Belt and beyond, a recurring theme is they cannot get the strip-till done in the weather and operating windows they have, which makes strip-till not feasible as a mainstream practice.
  • AGuru Machinery has focused extensively on widening the operating window, into more difficult weather, soil and residue/cover crop conditions, including being able to run both fall and spring with the same machine.
• Agronomics
  • Agronomics are what drive economics — we grow a crop for our livelihood. Strip-till has to provide all of the advantages of both no-till and mulch-till, consistently in all operating conditions.
  • AGuru Machinery has focused their product development on managing residue, creating an optimum root zone, feeding the crop and making the ideal planter ready seedbed.

Source: AGuru Machinery

The post AGuru Machinery Announces the Company’s Launch appeared first on North America FarmQuip Magazine.

Mordor Intelligence released an overview of orchard tractor market growth, trends, and forecasts for 2020-2025, segmenting the market by horsepower and geographical location.

Market Overview

Scope of the Report

For the purpose of this report, the tractors used in agricultural operations, especially Less than 20 HP, 30 HP, and 30-40 HP tractors are considered. Tractors used for orchards and garden purposes are included in the study.

• By Horsepower
  • Less than 20 HP
  • 20-30 HP
  • 30-40 HP
• By Geography
  • North America
    • United States
    • Canada
    • Mexico
    • Rest of North America
  • Europe
    • Germany
    • United Kingdom
    • France
    • Rest of Europe
  • Asia Pacific
    • China
    • Japan
    • India
    • Australia
    • Rest of Asia-Pacific
  • South America
    • Brazil
    • Argentina
    • Rest of South America
  • Africa
    • South Africa
    • Rest of Africa

Key Market Trends

Rise in Technological Advancements is driving the market growth

North America is Dominating the Orchard tractors market

The continuous rise in farm labor wages due to labor shortage, especially in fruits and vegetable plantation has had a positive impact on the demand for tractors in this region, as farmers are increasingly adopting agricultural mechanization including tractors as a substitute for manual labor. The wave of modern technology has already been witnessed in orchard tractors with the application of Artificial Intelligence-based tools for data transmission, for precise decision-making processes in cultivation. The rise in technological advancements in orchard tractors coupled with the decline in farm labor shrinkage is driving the demand for orchard and garden tractors sales and is expected to grow further during the forecast period.

Competitive Landscape

The global Garden and Orchard type tractors machinery market is fragmented with the presence of many of regional players. Deere & Company, CNH Industrial N.V., Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd and Tractor, and Farm Equipment Limited are some of the global players who are operating in this market. Product Innovation and expansion are the key strategies adopted by these players to strengthen their presence in the global garden and orchard type tractor machinery market.

Major Players

1. Deere & Company
2. Kubota Group
3. CNH Industrial N.V.
4. Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.
5. Tractor and Farm Equipment Limited

Source: Mordor Intelligence

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“It’s unfortunate that it sometimes takes an incident or close call to motivate producers to put in place farm safety measures,”

said Marcel Hacault, executive director of the Canadian Agriculture Safety Association (CASA), a non-profit organization formed in 1993 to respond to health and safety issues in agriculture.

“It’s even more unfortunate if they don’t take action to prevent incidents from happening again,” he said.

The survey, conducted from Feb. 10-21, found that seven in 10 producers (72 percent) have had an incident resulting in an injury or close call on their operation at some point in their lifetime, and a quarter (24 percent) of producers report having had one within the last year.

It also showed that producers who have had a safety incident on the farm are no more likely to access safety information or develop a safety plan than those who haven’t had an incident. However, a growing number of producers recognize their work is not done safely all of the time.

“Awareness is usually the first step toward taking preventative action,”

Hacault said.

“It’s not only obvious dangers that pose risk. There are often hidden hazards that can harm you, an employee or a family member.”

The survey showed only one in 10 producers (14 percent) surveyed indicated they have a written safety plan for their operation and 70 percent of those with plans felt it is effective in preventing injuries.

Hacault said a safety plan serves as an inventory of the various hazards that exist on the farm and sets out practices and procedures to prevent close calls or injuries from happening. It only takes one moment of distraction, fatigue, or complacency to change a person’s life forever.

Seeding and harvest are among the most dangerous times of the year since many producers are working long hours and are racing against the clock to get the job done.

“Producers have to remember that the most valuable asset on any farm is the people who do the work,”

Hacault said.

“By taking care of ourselves and those around us, we are contributing to our long-term success in both business and life.”

Producers can access safety information or training from a variety of organizations, including industry associations, provincial agriculture safety associations, agriculture suppliers, government, and non-profit agencies, such as CASA, Red Cross, and St. John Ambulance.

FCC is a long-time supporter of CASA and its safety awareness initiatives, including Canadian Agricultural Safety Week. It is also a proud supporter of other farm safety programs, such as the Back to Ag Program that supports the cost of adaptive technology for farmers that have experienced a traumatic injury.

A total of 1,239 FCC Vision panelists involved in agriculture production from across Canada participated in the study. With a 78 percent response rate, the margin of error for this survey is +/- three percent at a standard 95 percent confidence level.

Source: Farm Credit Canada

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