Summits

Global consumption trends and the growth of specialized crops was the focus of the October 2019 Summit hosted by the Spanish National Association for Agricultural, Forestry and Landscaping Machinery (ANSEMAT) at the Ministry of Agriculture in Madrid.

A profound change is taking place at the global level in food styles and consumption habits. This change is causing new trends in agricultural production, with a robust growth in high value-added crops—specialized crops—compared to arable crops. This change is also reflected in the agricultural machinery industries which see consistent growth in demand for technologies dedicated to “new” crops.

For the agricultural mechanization sector, this growth represents an important challenge, which is played out not only on the level of productivity, but also on that of sustainability. The containment of greenhouse gases, lack of water resources, the impact of chemical products on the environment and of the processing on the quality of the soils are salient issues which manufacturers must consider. These issues can be effectively addressed with the design and implementation of innovative machines. Indeed, the specialized crop sector highlights a gap in terms of technology in many of the production areas.

As pointed out by Carlo Lambro, Brand President, New Holland, with regard to fruit crops, only Europe presents a fleet adequate to the needs of these productions. Asia Pacific Countries, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, which also account for 86% of the cultivated area, are characterized by low levels of mechanization. “Mechanization plays a key role for specialized crops,” said Lambro, “and mechanical means must know how to adapt to the specific needs of this type of cultivation.”

“Along with agricultural diversification,” said Rainer Morgenstern, Executive Director for Sales and Marketing of Same Deutz-Fahr, “specialized crops can be one of the answers to the challenges of food self-sufficiency and climate change. However, specialized crops have special needs that require the use of special tractors with features capable of responding to those needs.”

Mark von Pentz, President, Worldwide Agriculture & Turf Division, Deere & Compnay, focused on the implications of innovation on the broader agricultural machinery market. “If agriculture 4.0 is already a reality, if the ‘electrification’ of mechanical means will be more and more so in the years to come,” von Pentz said, “the next step of technological innovation is linked to the transition from automation to autonomy, that is, to the use on a large scale of artificial intelligence.”

A total of 18 industry expert speakers addressed 120 delegates from 15 countries on these topics and more. The second day of the Summit included specialty crop equipment demos at Demoagro in Valencia along with an exclusive local wine-tasting on site and a locally grown lunch served in the midst of a citrus farm.