A big step forward in agricultural machinery production: what can we expect this year?
2024. January 30.According to preliminary data, the market for agricultural machinery could grow one and a half times in ten years.
As more and more people move to cities, fewer and fewer people will stay in the countryside, reducing the amount of land under cultivation and the number of people working in agriculture.
The question is: how did they get so far and what can we expect in the future?
In this article, we will tell you all about it in detail.
Automation of the sector
Demand for agricultural equipment, spare parts and machinery has increased significantly in recent years, particularly as a result of the epidemic.
Technological development is therefore inevitable, and neither companies nor farmers can afford to be left behind and have to keep up with the big players.
In addition, automation has increased and more and more automated equipment has been used, leading to an increase in production in the sector.
It probably goes without saying that the market has benefited from the use of machinery that has increased automation, especially GPS solutions and the Internet of Things (IoT), the integration of which into machinery has started to increase production, which has also been greatly influenced by land development, livestock farming and crop production.
These factors will continue to play a major role in the future, with the potential for the market to make great strides over the next ten years.
Technological modernisation
Domestic sales of agricultural machinery have been growing steadily for years.
However, this is much needed, as Hungarian agricultural businesses need to be able to compete internationally.
While in 2021, sales of agricultural machinery and parts exceeded HUF 300 billion, in 2022, we spent HUF 269 billion on such equipment in the first nine months of the year alone.
Last year, further government decisions helped farmers to further upgrade their machinery.
The credit moratorium announced for agriculture, the income support for farmers and the agricultural and rural development support are all designed to make it easier for farm businesses to prosper.
Digital technology in agriculture
The contribution of EU funds will provide more support than ever before to farmers for the development and modernisation plans of food processors.
But this requires agricultural machinery, where development and production have made great strides in recent times.
Here too, digital technology has taken root, and thanks to it, Hungarians can finally compete.
Farmers are aware of the need for a change of mindset as they face increasingly severe weather events.
We have talked before about how to farm without rotation, but this will not be enough in the longer term.
Another problem for the machinery industry is the uncertainty about the phasing out of internal combustion engines.
For the time being, the batteries available will allow a maximum operating time of 15 minutes for a tractor with a higher power output.
And market difficulties are a major concern for all machinery manufacturers.
The biggest current problem for these companies is that the machinery industry is in a constant state of flux.
In Europe, there has been a strong trend towards customisation, which has resulted in many machines where everyone has a customised cab.
Manufacturers did not want these extra demands, which were not seen in other continents, for example.
However, the Green Agreement could make it an important task to reduce the environmental burden and cut down on the use of chemicals.
New machinery is being planned to enable optimum chemical application with fewer runs and targeted releases of active ingredients.
All this will be achieved through digitalisation.