Agrosalon 2014, the triumph of intellect

AgroCentre has participated in the most significant farming event of this year, the Agrosalon international exhibition of farm equipment. Despite difficult relations with the West, no chill has been registered in the relationship between foreign manufacturers and Russian farmers. 

On the contrary, Russian farmers take an acute interest in innovative solutions and novelties from all over the world.

“Today we face a new phase in the development of agriculture,” says Nikolai Ivanishchev, AgroCentre Director General. “The state is interested in strengthening food security and growth of agricultural production, hence in improving the efficiency of each farming enterprise. This is a chance for us! To realise it, we tried to offer the most efficient machines from the leading manufacturers of equipment. Judging by the number of awards and new products of our partners, the farm equipment manufacturers, we have coped with this task well!”

The partners of AgroCentre got three medals at once.

AGCO Machinery received two silver medals. One was for development of the electronic system for feeding the Valtra N103.4H3 Dual Fuel diesel engine thanks to which it becomes possible to run the machine not only on diesel, but also compressed natural gas, biogas and bio diesel.

“This is a rather new concept for Russia,” says Nikolai Bashkirov, head of the orders department, AgroCentreZakharovo LLC. “However, demand for it is already rising. We are conduct busy negotiations for the supply of tractors powered by this engine.”

Another medal is for a unique electronic system, the Fendt 933 Vario Profi Plus 1 that makes it possible to control the tractor and mounted implements from a single terminal. Although it has been used for several years all over the world, nothing to date compares with it in the simplicity of farm equipment control.

The gold medal of Agrosalon went to the Valley company, one of the leaders in irrigation equipment, for introduction of the Base station 3 system.

“This system enables a specialist to monitor the condition of the field and control irrigation without going out on the field itself. This can be done using just a laptop, iPad or a smartphone,” says Dmitry Gerasimenko, AgroCentreZakharovo manager for sales of irrigation systems. “It can also remotely activate pumping stations.”

AgroCentre specialists demonstrated to the guests the most popular new products of the year.

The new series of medium class sprinklers that will replace the SpraCoupe are Challenger RoGator 700 machines with a rod length of 24.4 or 27.4 m.

“This model has inherited many of the assets of the RoGator 1100-1300 sprinklers,” says Dmitry Trofimov, AGCO products manager. “It also has an economical engine, AGCO POWER (175 hp), and HydroStar hydrostatic stepless transmission. It automatically chooses the optimum speed and fuel consumption on different areas of the field. This is one of the most cost effective models, consuming a mere 0.5 litre per hectare. It should be noted, however, that the machine has not inherited the price of the large sprinkler. Despite all the innovations, it is quite reasonably priced.”

The Challenger RG 700 also now has a precise sprinkling and automatic section de-activation system in the base. In the previous model, as well as in rival machines, these functions are only optional. 

The customers were glad to see upgraded tilling and drilling machines from Vaderstad, which seems unstoppable in improving its products.

The legendary Rapid 300-400 C/S drill has undergone serious changes in design for more convenient handling rather than just for the sake of appearance. For instance, the bin is now slightly over the chassis, which makes the machine’s operating elements more accessible.      

Rapid now has a hydraulic seeding unit drive which simplifies adjustment of the seeding rate. Another asset is maintenance-free hubs. According to Aleksey Kirsanov, regional representative of Vaderstad in Russia, this significantly reduces the number of lubrication points. The new ball bearings also have a longer service life.   

The tilling equipment got its share of improvements as well. The discs of the cultivator Carrier L (51 cm diameter) and Carrier XL (diameter 61 cm) have been enlarged expressly for operation with a large quantity of crop residue at a greater depth. 

More aggressive TrueCut discs have been fitted on the TopDown machine. These have a milled, not stamped, dented edge thanks to which they retain an excellent cutting capability whatever the extent of wear. 

Vaderstad also announced its new tilling system, Opus. The new cultivator with a gripping width of 6 and 7 m can operate at a depth of down to 40 cm. The first Opus machines will roll off the factory assembly line in 2015.

The smart technology novelty from Vaderstad was E-control, an application for iPad used on Tempo and Rapid drills. This application makes it possible to monitor all of the machine’s functions, including calibration, change of seeding rate and process track width.

JCB, a leading manufacturer of loaders, also demonstrated an outstanding smart product at Agrosalon, coming up with the LiveLink telematic system. This helps farmers and dealers monitor the number of hours worked, fuel consumption and data on the use of the loader. The system can report the operating condition of the machine and the need for maintenance. All the information on the equipment can be easily observed on the website even via a mobile phone.  

“The system monitors the loader’s technical condition and reminds us of the need for maintenance and repair. In addition, it controls the machine itself,” says Vasily Bezrukov, Director of the Bezrukov Private Enterprise, Ulyanovsk oblast. “Thus we are insured against unauthorised trips and stealing. Some twenty years ago, we couldn’t even imagine that the equipment would obtain such smart skills!”  

This is by no means all that the farmers could see at the exhibition. A delegation from Kursk oblast, for instance, set their sights on the Challenger and Massey Ferguson tractors.

“AGCO supplies really good tractors. Around forty of them are at work in our oblast,” noted Aleksey Zolotaryov, Kursk Oblast Deputy Governor. “And their price is reasonable, too. These are powerful, economical, and comfortable machines, easy to use and with nothing extra. I haven’t heard any complaints about their servicing from the farmers. They probably owe these merits both to AGCO and AgroCentre.”