The Agritechnica trade show in Hanover, Germany, is an extraordinary event that brought together 470,000 people from 151 countries to interact with more than 2,800 exhibitors in early November 2025.
I spent four days at the show, putting many kilometres on my shoes, and I had the blisters to show for it.
Here are five things I observed at the show:
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Autonomous options will be ready when the farmers are: All the major equipment manufacturers are working on autonomy for farm equipment.
John Deere is moving slowly, making sure the solution is well tested in the field, and is starting with its largest machines, the 9R and 8R lines. Other companies are moving quickly, and there were many autonomous machines at Agritechnica from yard maintenance to more than 300 horsepower.
Most of these autonomy solutions won’t survive. The major equipment companies, with their larger development budgets, established distribution and customer trust, will win. There’s not enough differentiation in core autonomy for autonomy-specific companies to win in this area.
“Most of these autonomy solutions won’t survive.”
— John Greig
I’m a bit concerned about interoperability and the fact that implement automation hasn’t reached the level of sophistication of the power unit.
Equipment electrification is advancing in many ways: This includes diesel-electric engines that provide copious power for data gathering, precision agriculture functions and cameras, a new ISOBUS standard that will increase data traffic between equipment and tractors by 4,000 per cent, the power of cameras to do everything from safety to guidance to helping corn headers reduce harvest loss and electrification of farm equipment.
Chinese machinery has arrived and is now leading in some areas: Watch for the increasing influence of Chinese-built machinery around the world. They are building machines with better fit and finish and are more willing to push boundaries, whether that’s on powertrains or autonomy.
Agriculture around the world is big bucks: The 2,800 companies exhibiting at Agritechnica all sell products, many of them worth a lot of money. I had multiple discussions with people about the sheer volume of equipment and technology. It’s impressive and inspiring. If you’re in agriculture, remember you’re part of something big and important.
Canadian participation: Canadian companies showed up to Agritechnica in a bigger way than ever before, and people from other countries are very interested in investing in and engaging with Canada as a trusted, reliable, predictable partner. The United States is being isolated.
