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.
Italian tractor manufacturer Argo Tractors, builders of the McCormick, Landini and Valpadana marques, has opened a new factory to develop and manufacture transmissions for those brands.
Located in Campagnola, North of Bologna in the province of Reggio Emilia, not too far from the famous Ferrari headquarters, the new site covers an area of 30,000m² (3ha) and employs over 150 people, who work on four assembly lines supported by pre-assembly areas.
One line is dedicated to the production of transmissions for specialist, light and medium utility tractors, while a second equips tractors destined for low regulated emission markets.
The third and fourth assembly lines are for transmissions for medium to high power tractors. On the same site, there are also extensive testing facilities for mechanical and hydraulic componentry as well as complete transmissions.
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The site also has extensive transmissions testing facilities. |
Like the tractor production sites at Fabbrico, San Martino in Rio and Luzzara it feeds, the Campagnola plant uses the Kaizen industrial production philosophy of continuous improvement, through the application of concepts that have led over the years to the development of lines supplied by specific and targeted components for each type of product.
Special attention is paid to the supply of components to the assembly lines, which is managed through a “supermarket” style warehouse that is constantly fed by the central warehouse and from which the specific components of the individual transmissions are routed to the assembly lines.
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).
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