For the largest farm show in the world, AGRITTECHNICA – held Nov. 15-19, 2011, in Hanover, Germany – attendees and vendors may ask, what were some of the highlights?

According to a follow-up survey the DLG (the Deutsche Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft – German Agricultural Society, which puts on AGRITECHNICA) commissioned of the firm Wissler & Partner Trade Fair Marketing, most visitors, 76 percent, came from the Federal Republic of Germany, with the majority from northern Germany.

The first four reasons most attendees came to the show were: 42 percent came to gather information about innovations and trends; 41 percent to speak with the manufacturers; 33 percent  to gain an overview of the market and programs; and 31 percent to seek information about products, systems and applications. Sixty-six percent of the visitors were in the farming and forestry fields.

Dr. Reinhard Grandke, CEO of the DLG, said for the 2011 show there was “record participation with over 2,700 exhibitors from 48 countries.”

He added the show had, altogether, 2,748 companies from 48 countries, comprising 2,698 direct exhibitors and 50 additionally represented companies presenting a complete program of agricultural machinery and equipment. The number of exhibitors has grown by 17 percent compared with the last event in 2009.

“The largest contingents of the altogether 1,372 foreign companies come from Italy (322),” Grandke said, “the Netherlands (112), France (92), China (82), Austria (76), Turkey (72), Denmark (59), the USA (54), Canada (49), the United Kingdom (44), Poland (41), Spain (39), India (36) and Finland (34).”

One of the reasons agricultural professionals attend AGRITECHNICA is to see the latest innovations. The Neuheit Innovations Awards include gold and silver medals. The first was awarded to AGCO Fendt for the system in which a driverless tractor on the field automatically follows another tractor through communications via radio.

The second gold medal was awarded to Krone for producing the technique that allows a bale to be compacted, tied and wrapped, all without stopping. “The automatic procedure relieves the burden on the driver. The machine throughput can be increased by up to 50 percent,” stated the AGRITECHNICA Innovations magazine.

Silver medal awards were presented, including one to New Holland for its olive harvest machine Braud 9090X that, through the end harvest-zone dependent shaker, has increased olive harvest plantation efficiency by 20 percent. Another silver medal was awarded to New Holland for its intelligent electronic Smart Key. The key has an RFID-chip that allows the driver to use machines for which they are authorized.

Silver medals were also awarded to AGCO Fendt, John Deere and yet another to New Holland. These profile only part of the innovations seen by visitors to the 2011 show.

Several companies were present that American farmers do not often see. Two companies included in this group were Krone and Lemken, which sells plows, drills, field cultivators and seed preparation and sprayers, along with tillage tools.

The Agricultural Machinery Assoc. (VDMA) shared that it sees an upswing in the agricultural economy. “It is really extraordinary how dynamically the agricultural machinery industry has grown this year,” VDMA Managing Director Dr. Bernd Scherer stated in a press release before the opening of AGRITECHNICA.

The show and outlook ended on a positive note with the CEMA Business Barometer, a monthly survey of top decision-makers in the European agricultural machinery industry, viewing the current business situation as “very good” or “good.”

Readers with questions or comments for Cindy Ladage may write to her in care of this publication.