Farming smarter with technology
The National Fieldays is an annual fixture in the farming calendar: it draws in thousands of farmers, contractors, and industry professionals from across the country.
The judges at last year’s Agritechnica event picked the Italian-built Landini Rex 4-120GT Robo- Shift Dynamic as the Best of Specialised category at its Tractor of the Year 2024 Awards.
The judges noted the tractor had “raised the bar for specialised vineyard and orchard tractors”. The model features a robo-shift transmission, 48 forward and 16 reverse gears with electro-hydraulic reverse shuttle and four fully robotised driving gears. All of which can be operated in automatic or sequential mode through a joystick.
The Rex 4-120GT is also the first specialised tractor with a suspended cab to provide additional comfort to drivers. Interestingly, the dynamic version features an autonomous driving system option that allows, with the help of integrated sensors, automatic parallel driving between rows.
Meanwhile, an example from the company’s red McCormick camp was also a winner – taking out Tractor of the Year’s Best Utility section. The McCormick X5.120 P3-Drive was described as “the ideal utility vehicle for daily use on the farm”.
Featuring a 3.6-litre, 4-cylinder, 16-valve, Stage V compliant FPT F36 engine, the range offers 95 to 114hp with maximum torque to 460 Newton metres.
Its main new feature is the P3-Drive transmission: 36+12 or 48+16 with creeper, designed and manufactured entirely in-house by Argo Tractors.
Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford says the 2025 Fieldays has been one of more positive he has attended.
A fundraiser dinner held in conjunction with Fieldays raised over $300,000 for the Rural Support Trust.
Recent results from its 2024 financial year has seen global farm machinery player John Deere record a significant slump in the profits of its agricultural division over the last year, with a 64% drop in the last quarter of the year, compared to that of 2023.
An agribusiness, helping to turn a long-standing animal welfare and waste issue into a high-value protein stream for the dairy and red meat sector, has picked up a top innovation award at Fieldays.
The Fieldays Innovation Award winners have been announced with Auckland’s Ruminant Biotech taking out the Prototype Award.
Following twelve years of litigation, a conclusion could be in sight of Waikato’s controversial Plan Change 1 (PC1).
OPINION: The Greens aren’t serious people when it comes to the economy, so let’s not spend too much on their…
OPINION: PM Chris Luxon is getting pinged lately for rolling out the old 'we're still a new government' line when…