AGCO’s Fendt brand won a Silver Innovations Award at Agritechnica for its all-electric e100 Vario, which has the capabilities of a 65-horsepower conventional tractor but shorter run time.

Re-energizing electric drive

Today’s concept tractors may never get beyond the prototype stage, but that isn’t going to stop electrification

Reading Time: 6 minutes It was one of those great opportunities that I savour. I was with two very senior executives from one of the full-line manufacturers, and we were having a casual and candid conversation over lunch. We were in a private dining room on the grounds of the Agritechnica machinery show in Germany. Eventually the conversation drifted […] Read more

A cutaway view of a Xaver robot shows it is built on a modular design, and in the future it could potentially be repurposed to do jobs other than seeding corn.

‘Xaver’-ing success

AGCO’s MARS project lands a new name ahead of its market release

Reading Time: 3 minutes Several months ago Country Guide reported on the field robot project called MARS, which is an acronym for Mobile Agricultural Robot Swarms. It began as a joint research project between the European Commission and AGCO’s Fendt brand. At the Agritechnica machinery show in Hanover, Germany, in November, AGCO revealed the project has moved beyond the […] Read more


hanson acres

Hanson Acres: In a place far, far away

The brutal winter isn’t the only reason Elaine’s blood is running cold

Reading Time: 4 minutes “If there’s a colder place on Earth, I don’t want to go there,” Jeff said, pulling his coat tighter around his neck as he and Elaine waited for the streetlight to change. “Oh, look!” Elaine said, peering around her husband. “It’s Dave and Holly!” She waved a mittened hand. The other couple made it to […] Read more

The new AmaSpot sprayers use sensors that can detect weeds and spray chemical only where needed, even at night.

Amazone sprayers go high tech

Is this the next brand you should look at in sprayers?

Reading Time: 4 minutes There’s no shortage of short-line ag implement manufacturers, and in almost any of them, the corporate executives will tell you they are now playing in a crowded marketplace. But the head of Germany-based Amazone is more bullish, saying his firm has the recipe for growth, and that he’ll be able to continue finding new markets […] Read more


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Hanson Acres: A starry night at Christmas

The whole family gets together, and there’s only one word to describe it

Reading Time: 4 minutes By late afternoon on Christmas Day the festive holiday spirit had dwindled in all but two of the Hansons. Seven-year-old Connor ran into his grandmother Donna’s kitchen, sliding the last few feet in his socks and ending with a dramatic stop. “Mom? Grandma? Aunty Margaret? Aunty Trina? Why does Santa have three gardens?” Connor’s father […] Read more

AGCO introduced the new C Series RoGator with impressive upgrades in August.

New C Series RoGators

AGCO re-engineers its sprayer line with LiquidLogic technology

Reading Time: 2 minutes If there’s one word that’s taking up a lot of air in the room when it comes to herbicide discussions this year, it’s “resistance.” The growing threat from herbicide-resistant weeds has become a reality in nearly all regions and threatens to get much worse. Everyone in the industry is looking for solutions, and AGCO thinks […] Read more


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Hanson Acres: All dressed up. The family’s in town

The rumour mill is swirling, and even the FCC is offering tickets

Reading Time: 4 minutes “I just had the strangest call,” Donna said to her husband Dale as she walked from her fitness room into the kitchen, where he was drinking coffee and reading the Western Producer. Donna had her phone in one hand and was using the other to wipe sweat from her forehead with a faded towel. “Oh […] Read more

AGCO’s new “IDEAL” combine will debut in Germany in November. Built on a global platform, it will incorporate the highest level of digital technology of any combine to ever wear MF, Challenger or Fendt nameplates.

Dawn of the ‘smart’ combine

Automated and self-adjusting threshing systems become the norm

Reading Time: 3 minutes Combine manufacturers have made giant strides toward machine automation. Yes, there still needs to be an operator in the cab (and we’re likely some distance away from changing that), but a growing number of today’s combines are making their own decisions about how to adjust their operations on the go for maximum threshing efficiency and […] Read more


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Hanson Acres: He’ll huff and he’ll puff…

There’s another decision to make every day on the farm, and Connor wants this one made in a hurry

Reading Time: 4 minutes As soon as the driver pulled open the door, seven-year-old Connor flew out of the school bus and raced full speed toward the Hanson’s house. He took the front steps two at a time, until he was caught by surprise when his father Jeff opened the house door from the inside just as Connor had […] Read more

With the new CVXDrive CVT transmission, Steigers can move as slowly as three feet per minute, and the brand endorses using tractors equipped with it for installing drainage tile.

Case IH shifts gears

New transmissions debut in the Steiger and Maxxum tractor lines

Reading Time: 4 minutes Cole Carling, marketing manager for Case IH Maxxum and Puma tractors, was telling our group of farm machinery writers what’s going to be different in the 2018 Maxxum tractors we’ll see rolling off assembly lines starting this fall. Carling was talking to us in Boone, Iowa in August, and said, “We’re introducing new styling… It’s […] Read more