The HighPower category is limited to tractors over 300 horsepower. Claas’ Axion 9.450 comes in at 450 horsepower.

“Tractor of the year, it’s really, really huge honour for us,” said Vasily Badya, Claas product manager for Axion tractors. “It’s all brand new class tractor with a completely new design.

Badya also pointed out that operator comfort was a main focus when designing the Axion. For example, noise levels inside the cab come in at a mere 65 decibels.

Read: More Agritechnica coverage with the Western Producer.

“It’s really, really going to be the benchmark,” said Badya.

Tractor of the Year is an international award ‘recognizing excellence in agricultural mechanization,’ showcasing the best tractors on the European market.

Related: Check out the CLAAS AXION 9.450 Tractor Specifications on AgDealer.com

The post Claas Axion 9.450 tractor wins ‘Tractor of the Year’ at Agritechnica 2025 appeared first on Country Guide.

Read: More coverage of Agritechnica with the Western Producer.

The new Optum tractor series comes in three models: the 440, 390 and 360. The new Optums are rated at 435, 390 and 360 horsepower, respectively.

Case’s new Optums come equipped with the new Cursor 9 engine and a CVXDrive transmission, allowing it to travel at faster road speeds of up to 60 km-h.

The new Case IH Optum tractors are also designed to work in tight spaces and have a tight turning radius of 6.1 metres, while Adaptive Steering Control reduces the effort it takes to maneuver the tractors when in the field.

Related: Check out the Case IH OPTUM 440 Tractor Specifications on AgDealer.com

The post Case IH reveals new Optum tractor at Agritechnica 2025 appeared first on Country Guide.

Versatile has introduced four new widths — a 15-foot, 18-foot, 21-foot and 24-foot — to its high-speed disc lineup for model year 2026.

One of the new units, the HS150, was on display at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show 2025 in Woodstock, Ontario.

“What sets us apart is the tilt angle on the Fury HS,” said Leo Reznik, product manager with Versatile. “It has 20 degrees tilt angle, and in combination with the disk angle, creates more disturbance on the soil.”

Reznik added that the new design allows the Fury HS series to chop crop residue better and bury it more into the soil than its competitors.

The disc sizes are 22 and 24-inch on the new HS series of high-speed discs. Reznik said that the combination of disc size and disc orientation creates a very smooth seedbed.

Alongside the HS series, Versatile has also released the Fury R which has a 10-degree tilt angle and is comparable to other high-speed discs.

Reznik said that the Fury is one of the heaviest implements in its class, delivering a down-force of about 1,000 pounds per foot.

“This creates a situation that we don’t need to use a hydraulic pressure on the wings,” said Reznik. “The weight of the implement is enough to keep it engaged with the soil.”

Reznik added that the transport width is about three metres.

Versatile is accepting customer orders for the new Fury models now and will begin manufacturing the units in October 2025.

The Fury is designed and made at Versatile’s manufacturing facility in Winnipeg, Man.

See more Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show coverage on Farmtario’s landing page.

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But according to Spencer Harris, senior vice-president of global ag retail for Nutrien Ag Solutions, biologicals are not all that new for Nutrien — the global ag retailer has been researching biological crop inputs for nearly two decades.

“We’ve invested over a half billion dollars in research and development of biologicals and bio-stimulants … and we’re excited about how biologicals have really increased over the last couple of years,” says Harris.

He said there is consistent interest outside of North America for these products and growers around the globe have been benefitting from their use.

“We’re seeing these products being used around the globe … on specialty crops, corn, soybeans in the United States and having terrific results,” says Harris.

He predicts the market for biological crop inputs will grow to $11 billion by 2030, up from his current estimate of about $4.5 billion.

So far the company has focused its market development for biologicals on major oilseed crops such as canola and soybeans, and major cereal crops such as corn, wheat, barley and oats.

For example, Nutrien’s biologicals are being trialled in 300 locations and its biological products are being sold and used by grower customers throughout 1,500 locations in North America and 300 locations in Australia.

It’s a solid uptake in interest that Harris takes note of.

“I think growers are looking for solutions, and they want maybe safer solutions, and ones that are more naturally occurring,” says Harris.

“So biologicals have really taken off on that front, and so the past four or five years we’ve seen the uptake really increase.”

It’s fair to say that challenges that existed for growers 20 years ago have become more pronounced, particularly when it comes to dry conditions on the Prairies.

Harris said Nutrien has a new biological product to address this issue.

“We’re launching a product called Terramar to help mitigate abiotic stress by slowing down the respiration of the plant,” says Harris.

According to the company’s website, the product enhances microbial activity in the soil around a plant’s roots to better withstand stressful conditions. It is currently pending registration in Canada and will be available for sale in 2026.

With all the talk of alternative production methods, it can be challenging for farmers to adopt new practices on their farm.

Harris sees this as a changing dynamic.

“Growers are just looking for new solutions,” he says.

“When you talk about soil health and the stress that plants are under, either from drought or too much water, we have the products that really help plants with stress. What we’re trying to do is maximize the return on investment for those growers,” Harris says.

“In some cases, that’s a biological alone. In other cases, that’s using a biological in conjunction with a synthetic to get that real synergistic approach.”

*Note: This article has updated been updated from its original version to reflect the accurate number of ongoing trials and product location numbers, and the dollar amount of investments Nutrien has made in biologicals.

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The new FD2 Plus FlexDraper has two inches of extra flex at the cutterbar allowing it to follow the contour of the ground more efficiently to harvest more crop.

Follow all our Ag in Motion coverage at the Western Producer.

In 2020, MacDon released its FD2 FlexDraper design with increased capacity, deeper drapers and a new cutting system.

“Now we’re adding to that with the Plus where we’ve brought out a flexible cutter bar,” said Russ Henderson, product manager with MacDon.

“A lot of competitive flex drapers have a very large flex range,” added Henderson, “But that drops the cutter bar away from the reel, and if the reel and cutter bar aren’t working together, you can be leaving crop in the field.”

The new FD2 Plus FlexDraper comes in widths from 30 to 50 feet.

Watch for a video of MacDon’s new FD2 Plus FlexDraper coming soon to AgDealerTV.

The post MacDon shows new FD2 Plus FlexDraper at Ag in Motion appeared first on Country Guide.

Not anymore.

Thanks to data collected from field trials, input from seed organizations and the advent of the internet, now more than ever there’s a wealth of information available for growers.

But with so many seed varieties to choose from it’s essential that you make the best educated choice about which seed to put in the ground to ensure good yields come harvest.

Seed Manitoba makes this sort of decision-making much easier.

Dennis Lange is the provincial pulse and soybean specialist with Manitoba Agriculture.

He’s been working on putting together the 2025 edition of Seed Manitoba with the team at Country Guide’s sister publication, Manitoba Co-operator.

This seed guide is chock-full of agronomic information about varieties of cereal, pulse, oilseed, forage and specialty crops. So much information can be a bit daunting for growers, so Lange has come up with a method to help them narrow down potential seed choices.

All you need is a highlighter.

I met with Lange late last year so that he could demonstrate his method in person. Below is our conversation, edited lightly for clarity. You can find the full video at the Manitoba Co-operator website.

Get out your highlighters

Lange calls his method “the highlighter test.”

“When used properly, it will give you a good picture of how each crop type will do at different locations,” Lange explains. “It’s to be used with any single site year data. For example, in soybeans, we have sites in Arborg, Beausejour and Stonewall, as well as the core sites at Carman, Portage la Prairie, St. Adolphe and Morris.”

He explains the highlighter method as follows:

“When you look at the bottom of the table, you’ll see in the gray section something called CV, which is the coefficient of variance. That tells you how good the trial is. The lower the number, generally under 10, means it’s a very well-run trial, not a lot of variation, not a lot of other factors contributing to what the yield numbers are showing. It gives the true genetic potential of the varieties that you see.

“The number that you’re interested in is called the LSD. That stands for least significant difference. This means that whatever the value is for a given site, any two varieties that you’re comparing within the table have to be different by that amount.

“For example, the Arborg table this year shows 10 per cent. That number is generated from the stats that are run on the individual trial and will be different for each location. So, if you see that 10 per cent, highlight that LSD with your pink highlighter, and then go across the bottom.

“Then take another colour highlighter, let’s say green, and go up the table. Anything that is 10 per cent greater than your check (so in this example our check is P006, a 37x), you highlight in green, then go all the way down that column. So, for the Arborg site, you might see three different varieties that are statistically higher yielding.

Now, grab a yellow highlighter and anything that is 90 per cent less (10 per cent less than the check, so 90 or lower), highlight in yellow. “If you do that for each site, you’ll get a checkerboard pattern of different colours.

“Green are higher yielding than the check. Generally, at each site, you might see maybe two or three varieties outyielding a check. You might see a few more yellow varieties on certain years, because those yellow varieties usually are the earlier season varieties that don’t yield as much as what a mid- or long-season variety does, depending on the growing season. But what’s also important is anything that’s not highlighted is the same yield as the check. So, if your LSD is 10 at Arborg and your yield is 105 per cent that tells us it’s the same yields as the check.

“Because we choose such a strong check, as long as you’re staying within your maturity group, you’re picking a good variety. And because the varieties are listed from earliest maturing at the top (of the list) to longest maturing at the bottom, if you see a variety that maybe doesn’t have any green or yellow in it (but nothing is highlighted), that means the variety is the same yield as a check. But because it’s earlier, it’ll gain you a few more days’ advantage as far as harvestability goes, because the crop matures earlier.

“You can use this same process for any table with an LSD in it. Highlight the LSD first, then highlight the check so you know what you’re comparing it to. And when you go through this process, eventually it will help you pick a variety.

“Some growers say to me, ‘I only want to look at the site that’s closest to me.’ But if you only look at one site, you only know what the weather was like at that one site for the past year. You don’t know what the forecast is going to be for next year. If you look at all the sites, that will give you a good idea on how a variety performs under different weather patterns, different amounts of moisture, different planting dates and all those factors that play into it.

“Once you’ve picked your variety, go back to the main part of the table, the variety description table, and look at the long-term yield which will have a number of site years, which is basically the number of different locations that have been tested. If a variety has been tested for 21 site years (and) there are seven site years per season, it’s been tested over three growing seasons. The higher the site years, the better, because you can be confident in the yield results.

“It’s a bit of a process but get yourself a few highlighters and walk through (the exercise). In the end it’s a quick way of showing the differences between varieties or (whether there) are no differences between varieties.

“I’ve done this at different meetings with growers (and it’s) kind of fun to do because it gives you a really good impression of how a trial performs. It also helps eliminate some of the ‘sales pitch’ stuff, because the information that’s being calculated is a true representation of the genetic potential of those varieties. It’s verified data.

“Every year it’s a process (to put the guide together),” Lange sums up. “It takes a lot of information, and a lot of time goes into it. But at the end of the day, to have the finished product for growers and the industry, it’s well worth it.”

You can find the guide at www.seedmb.ca/digital-edition/seed-manitoba_2024-12-19/.

Our thanks to Manitoba Agriculture staff and Seed Manitoba for their contributions to this article.

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“Today we have these electric drive meter upgrades where we can take an existing planter, say back to 2015 – a MaxEmerge 5 planter – and we can add these meter upgrades without having to replace that entire row unit,” said Taryn Fischels, precision upgrades product marketing manager for John Deere.

The move allows growers to increase their efficiency and accuracy when it comes time to put seed in the ground, and keep costs down if their current John Deere planter still has a few years left on it.

Fischels said that John Deere will start taking orders in June 2025 and kits will be ready for the 2026 planting season.

PowerStar gets revamped with four new models

At the show and getting plenty of attention from visitors at the New Holland booth was the latest PowerStar tractor. The new PowerStar comes in four models: 90, 100, 110 and 120 and range from 87 to 117 horsepower. Engine power is driven down to the wheels with New Holland’s FPT Industrial 3.6-liter four-cylinder engine on all four models.

“The PowerStar line has been with New Holland for decades. It’s really become synonymous with power, utility and comfort,” said Mike Sevick, business manager for New Holland North America. “What we’re really launching here is the next generation of those features and those benefits for customers with this tractor line.”

Want to learn more? Watch for full video interviews on John Deere’s planter upgrades and New Holland’s latest PowerStar tractor coming soon to AgDealerTV.

Organized by Kentucky Venues and recognized around the world as a premier farm trade show event, the National Farm Machinery Show welcomes as many as 300,000 visitors from across the U.S. and many other countries each year.

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Hesston by Massey Ferguson launched its new double small square baler on the show floor at a media event immediately after the show doors opened. The SB.1436DB produces two rows of bales per field pass and is clearly aimed at maximizing productivity.

The new baler features an advanced electronic monitoring and control system called, SimplEbale. It automates critical baling processes to ensure consistent bale density, weight and dimensions. From inside the cab, operators can monitor flake thickness, flake count, bale length and bale weight in real time, ensuring maximum throughput.

“With its heavy-duty design and groundbreaking technology, this baler helps operators achieve better efficiency and superior results, reducing costs while increasing profitability,” said Dane Mosel, marketing manager for Hesston by Massey Ferguson, in a press release.

Also unveiled at the show was a new Farmall C series tractor from Case IH.

The new Farmall C lineup offers a 12-speed PowerShuttle and 24-speed Hi-Lo transmission, reinforced front axle, boosted hydraulic flow, heavier gross vehicle weight and increased rear lift capacity.

“The new Farmall C not only offers heavy-duty performance and maneuverability, it delivers an improved operator experience,” said Leo Bose customer segmentation lead at Case IH, in a press release. “With the new brake to clutch feature, greater visibility, and the new L635 loader, operators can enjoy significantly increased comfort and reduced fatigue.”

There was a lot to see and do at the show so check out the video below of some of the day’s events on the show floor.

Watch for new videos to find out more about the new baler from Massey Ferguson and Case IH’s new Farmall tractor coming soon to AgDealerTV.

Organized by Kentucky Venues and recognized around the world as a premier farm trade show event, the National Farm Machinery Show welcomes as many as 300,000 visitors from across the U.S. and many other countries each year.

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During a press conference the evening of Nov. 5, 2024, before the opening day of the show, officials with FederUnacoma spoke to several challenges in the global agricultural sector such as weak farm equipment sales, labour shortages, how climate change is hurting productivity and how new technologies are one piece of the puzzle to help overcome these challenges.

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