Agricultural machinery manufacturers are very satisfied with the leading international exhibition for their industry, Agritechnica 2013 in Hanover, which concluded on November 16. “Professional agricultural machinery is now more attractive than ever,” explains VDMA Managing Director Dr. Bernd Scherer, summarizing the excellent mood and business situation in the industry at the concluding press conference. “We anticipate that this exhibition will provide a significant impetus for global agriculture.”
Visitors show very strong professionalism and inclination to invest
The inclination to invest and professionalism shown by visitors was extremely satisfactory. “The excellent quality of technical discussions and the exceptionally good investment mood of farmers worldwide are particularly striking,” emphasizes Dr. Scherer. German farmers proved to be especially willing to invest; according to the VDMA exhibitor survey, around 77% of them came to Hanover with concrete investment plans.
Exhibition presence sets the stage for new business relations
However, from the perspective of the industry, Agritechnica is also an outstanding platform for initiating new business relations. “Our exhibitor survey clearly demonstrates how worthwhile an exhibition presence in Hanover is for our industry,” explains Dr. Scherer. More than half of those surveyed indicated that they had made good to very good business contacts with new customers from around the world. This figure was a remarkable 86% for customer groups from Germany.
Good business developments expected for the coming months
Additional demand following Agritechnica is consequently very probable. This is also confirmed by assessments of top managers surveyed in the German and European agricultural machinery industry. “Once again, Agritechnica is completely fulfilling its function of providing an economic stimulus with regard to agricultural machinery,” states Dr. Scherer. While continuing good developments are anticipated in Western and Central Europe, the level in the CIS countries is at least satisfactory. In Germany, however, the “exceptionally satisfactory mood continues almost unchanged. Here in Germany approximately 82% of manufacturers expect good to very good business developments in the coming months.”
Farmers increasingly rely on intelligent networking
From a technological perspective, the present dynamism of agricultural machinery illustrates above all that: “Future-oriented operations work professionally, with optimized procedures. They are therefore investing increasingly in intelligently networked production processes,” states Dr. Scherer. Navigation to the nearest centimeter, sensor-based data collection and fully automated production processes are not an end in themselves, but rather “increasingly serve as an established standard in operations oriented toward efficiency and sustainability.” Transparency and intelligence along the entire process chain are thus drivers for agriculture of the future, which “can be successful only in the international arena.”
Agritechnica functions as the world’s largest trade exhibition for agricultural machinery and tractors. It is conceptually supported by VDMA and is held once every two years at the exhibition grounds in Hanover. The exhibition area Systems & Components, established this year and tailored specifically to the supplier industry, is acknowledged by industry circles as having considerable development potential.
