Archive for July, 2013

AGCO executives visited the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) last week to highlight another strong performance year.

To mark the occasion, Martin Richenhagen, Chairman, President and CEO, rang the NYSE Closing Bell along with our Board of Directors and a few others from executive management at AGCO. Click here to watch the video of the closing bell.

Our Massey Ferguson 8670 and Challenger MT765D tractors were definitely show stoppers on Wall Street.

Check out the highlights of the afternoon here.

And be sure to watch Andy Beck’s, our CFO, interview on TheStreet.com – click here watch the video.

As Massey Ferguson® rolls out its newest tractor series, one Georgia farmer takes time from his busy schedule to try out a demo.

Lee Powers (left) with his Massey Ferguson dealer, Roger Harrod.

For Lee Powers, time is at a premium. Most days he’s out of the house around 5:30 a.m. to feed and check on at least one of his two herds that he raises on two separate tracks. He also owns a construction business with the majority of the work—mostly commercial buildings, such as doctors’ offices—located in metro Atlanta, approximately 50 miles east of his home and farmland.

Still, he scratched out a little time when Roger Harrod, his Massey Ferguson dealer at Georgia Deer Farm & Agri-Center in the small community of Roopville, approached him with a proposition.

Roger had a demo model of a new MF4609 tractor. It’s one of three models in the Massey Ferguson 4600 Series that has received considerable press and been eagerly awaited by many farmers for its reported versatility and leading-edge technologies, including a 3.3-liter, 3-cylinder engine that’s said to be extremely efficient and powerful.

“It’s a nice, all-around-size tractor for somebody like Lee,” says Roger. “It’s for guys who aren’t full-time farmers, but they want to keep their place up. I’d say it’s a good hay tractor—perfect for cutting and bush hogging.”

Lee is already a Massey Ferguson customer—the owner of two tractors, an MF573 and MF5455. “The 5455 is the best tractor I’ve ever had in the hay field. Period,” says Lee. “I’ve been on all kinds of tractors, and it has spoiled me.” He says he’s enjoyed the MF5455 so much because everything is right at his fingertips, there’s plenty of power, and the visibility is wonderful.

Since Lee first bought the land, Frank has helped with his son’s farms, a 100-acre spread in Carrollton, Ga., where they raise 50 Black Angus cattle, and a 40-acre tract with about 22 head of Herefords in Hogansville. With other side hay jobs they have acquired—including managing a 205-acre tract of land belonging to the city of Hogansville—Lee estimates they cut and bale around 700 acres of hay twice and sometimes three times per year.

That translates to lots and lots of hay, factors they kept in mind during their time with the MF4609. As it is with many farmers, fuel usage was near the top of their list of concerns. To that end, Lee and Frank were happy with the 3-cylinder AGCO Power engine. “It seems to be fuel-efficient,” says Frank. “I was able to bush hog all day on a full tank.”

They also were looking for something to provide the power they needed. “I have been very, very pleased with the power it has,” says Lee. “As far as pulling, it is perfect for running a 15-foot bush hog. We were even cutting some wet stuff, and it was pulling through there just fine.”

The new power shuttle transmission was also a plus. “The transmission is smooth,” says Lee. “It’s like the cat’s meow. You can shift on the go, and the clutch is easy.”

Lee is already envisioning how an MF4609 might play a significant role on his farms, especially when it comes to raking, cutting and baling hay.

“There’s a 99.9% chance I’m going to buy that tractor,” he says.

To read the full story and to learn more about three key features of the MF4609 that separate it from the pack, visit http://www.myfarmlife.com/features/time-is-money/. To find out when you can check out a new Massey Ferguson 4600 Series tractor, contact your local dealer.

At regional machinery exhibition with his wife, Darryl Lush took a test drive on a new Fendt 626 Favourit and thought “someday I want to have this Fendt on my farm”. That was some 30 years ago.

Fendt produced only 65 Favorit 626 models, with an estimated six units exported to Australia. Two of these tractors would end up at Darryl’s 2200 hectare property near Gunnedah, northern NSW.

Darryl grows wheat, canola, sorghum and cotton and also operates a small construction business undertaking earthworks mainly in the region, but from time to time has ventured as far as Melbourne. It was this business that first introduced Darryl to Fendt tractors – he has been hooked ever since.

Finding a tractor that was be suitable for his business proved difficult. After approaching several other manufacturers with little success, fortuitously,  a neighbor suggested Darryl take a look at Fendt. A suggestion that had lasting result.

Darryl’s first Fendt was a Favourit 612 LS, which gave him many years of faithful service. His next,was the first of two Favorit 626 LS. The 626 gave him the edge over many of his competitors in construction.

“On large construction sites I would have some friendly competition with other operators, but at the end of the day the 626 would always be more capable” He said proudly.

Today, Both Darryl and his 626 put in fewer hours, pulling a chaser bin during harvest and occasionally small construction jobs in the local area.

“I am very attached to my 626 Favorit, but if someone makes me a good offer, enough that I could buy a new 900 Vario, I would probably be weak,” laughs Darryl.

Images of Darryl’s Favorit 626 are available on Fendt Global.

AGCO brands worldwide offer leading edge technologies for today’s precision farmers. And now, with this week’s launch of our new global connected precision agriculture strategy, Fuse Technologies, we are boosting our commitment to not just today’s technologies, but to the future of precision farming.

Fuse Technologies is a consolidated approach that supports our customers throughout the entire crop cycle from enterprise planning to planting, applications, harvesting and grain storage. Fuse Technologies helps our customers’ ensure their machines are always running and coordinated in the right place at the right time – resulting in increased yields and profits. A major focus of this new, long-term direction will be ensuring an “open” approach to the development and support of new technologies, as well as a focus on the seamless integration of these technologies through our customers’ agriculture equipment and grain storage monitoring systems. What do we mean by “open”? Initially, Fuse Technologies will enable connections between AGCO brand fleor a completely “open” system in which our mixed fleet customers will be able to connect all their equipment and grain storage systems into a single, optimized network. This means farmers will have ultimate flexibility to choose the service providers they prefer.

Five key “pillars” form the foundation of the new strategy:

• AGCO Brands: AGCO is a global provider of agriculture solutions through a unique offering of brands and products that deliver the AGCO vision of “High-tech Solutions for Professional Farmers Feeding the World.”
• On & Off Board Technologies: Seamlessly integrate all of your farm assets-resulting in higher yield, less input costs and greater profits.
• Support & Training: A new global call center and leading-edge product training means you get the expertise and answers to run your operation more efficiently
• Dealer Network: One of the world’s most extensive dealer networks gives you global access and support – any time, any place
• Service Providers: Connect with preferred service providers and enjoy the freedom and convenience to continue working with business partners that you trust.

As part of this long-term commitment to connectivity, AGCO is more than doubling its investments in engineering, IT, marketing, training and product support. Fuse Technologies encompasses current products, and will include all future products and services. To learn more about our specific on and off board technologies, including Auto-Guide^TM 3000, AgControl^TM , and VarioGuide^TM, and how Fuse supports farmers throughout the entire life cycle of farming, visit http://agcocorp.com/products/precision_farming.aspx.

Valtra has received a gold medal at the Agrotech exhibition in Kielce, Poland. The award, which was presented by Polish Minister of Agricultural Affaired Mr Stanislaw Kalemba, honours the Valtra model N103 HiTech 5 as a cutting-edge solution in constructions and ergonomics.

For more information about the N 103 HiTech 5 visit Valtra.