This year’s SIMA show in Paris opened last Sunday and will close today (Thursday). It is expected that over 250,000 people in total will have attended the show.

The show is spread over six halls with over 1,700 exhibitors. There are lots of workshops and seminars running concurrently with the show which are interesting to attend.

The French farming system is not all that different to the Irish one, in many respects, except the larger scale of equipment used such as ploughs, seed drills and sprayers is very clear.

The general view from the big tractor manufacturers is that 2015 will be a challenging year for them, with sales forecast to fall by 10% in most markets. This could change if agricultural commodity prices show any signs of recovery.

Martin Richenhagen, CEO of Agco, said: “Agco has had five consecutive years of growth.’’

Sales

‘‘Tractor sales in France are down 25% or 10,000 units, but up by 12% in Spain,’’ Richenhagen added.

There were 14,000 units built at the Massey Ferguson Plant in Beauvais in 2014. It was also confirmed that Indian business woman Mallika Srinivasan, chair and chief executive of Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited (TAFE), will have a 12.5% share in Agco, as agreed by both parties.

Agco-branded combines are preparing to push for market share by launching Harvest Promise machines. They will refund the farmer by €3,500 if the combine is stopped for over 24 hours waiting on parts. According to AGCO, it shows commitment to aftersales service and machine confidence.

Case IH confirmed at its press conference that it is working on a new range of tractors. This range is aimed at users in the market segment between the Puma and Magnum models.

Case IH brand president Andreas Klauser also predicts a tough time in 2015. The company strategy is to increase customer focus and work closely with the dealer network to provide increased support for customers. Case also said that German tractor dealership Gruma switched from John Deere to Case in 2013. The new Case Puma was launched at the show attracting a lot of attention.

What was very noticeable on the cultivation stands was the trend towards conservation tillage equipment. The manufacturers are keen to point out low horsepower requirements and wide working widths with minimal soil disturbance as the key attributes. The use of cover crops that are mulched and then directly sown is an area of interest for French farmers.

An interesting fact stated at the CEMA European Agricultural Machinery workshop on innovation development and CAP, was that the industry was worth over €26bn to Europe last year. It is pushing for support from the CAP in the next review in 2017 to give aid to contractors and farmers to adopt technology and precision-farming techniques to produce more food from less land.

The technology will benefit the soil, reduce fuel and give sustainable growth to the sector, according to CEMA secretary general Dr Ulrich Adams.

A full detailed report from the SIMA 2015 show will be in next week’s issue.