Agritechnica 2025: Advancing Sustainable Productivity Through Innovation in Agricultural Engineering

Agritechnica 2025, the world’s foremost trade fair for agricultural machinery, will convene in Hanover from 9 to 15 November, hosting over 2,700 exhibitors from 52 countries and attracting an expected 430,000 visitors. Under the guiding theme “Touch Smart Efficiency,” the event highlights the intersection of technological innovation, sustainability, and knowledge transfer critical to future-proofing global agriculture.

At a recent international press conference in Kassel, Dr. Lothar Hövelmann, Chief Executive Officer of the DLG (German Agricultural Society), presented key findings from the DLG’s AgriFuture Insights survey, conducted online among 2,184 agribusiness professionals worldwide between April and May 2025. The survey underscores a growing reliance on the integration of advanced digital technologies and sustainable agronomic practices to enhance productivity while reducing environmental impact. “Sustainable Productivity Growth,” Dr. Hövelmann explained, “is now a guiding principle for evaluating agricultural efficiency, incorporating both resource consumption and conservation in productivity assessment.”

The international agricultural sector faces multifaceted pressures, including climate change, geopolitical instability, and labor shortages, all of which affect the design, deployment, and adoption of engineering solutions. Survey responses indicate that modern digital technologies—artificial intelligence, robotics, drones, and autonomous systems—are viewed by academia and consultancy professionals as very important for driving productivity gains. Farmers also recognize their importance, although adoption is moderated by challenges such as interoperability, data protection, and the need for enhanced IT expertise within farm operations.

Agritechnica 2025 will address these challenges through its Digital Farm Center, a collaborative platform where researchers, engineers, and practitioners can evaluate the usability of emerging technologies and explore integrated systems for precision agriculture, autonomous machinery, and data-driven management. The center provides a unique opportunity for empirical study and real-world testing of engineering solutions in a controlled yet operationally relevant context.

Another focus of the exhibition will be soil health and conservation, essential components of sustainable productivity. Practices including reduced tillage, cover cropping, and extended crop rotations are increasingly incorporated in operational management, with survey data showing 53% of respondents already implement soil-conserving cultivation, 78% employ cover crops, and 57% practice extended rotations. These trends emphasize the need for mechanized solutions and sensor-based monitoring to maintain soil integrity while maximizing yield.

Investment patterns among global agricultural professionals reflect priorities in mechanization and technological innovation: 46.5% plan to invest in soil cultivation technologies, 43.6% in tractors, 24.7% in harvesting machinery, 23.7% in software solutions, and 11.5% in autonomous systems such as field robots. These data points highlight opportunities for collaborative research in machinery optimization, automation, and digital integration.

Agritechnica 2025 thus represents not only a global showcase of engineering advancements but also a platform for scientific discourse, experimentation, and collaborative research. By integrating field-level innovation with theoretical and applied research, the event fosters knowledge exchange that is essential to meeting the dual objectives of productivity enhancement and resource sustainability.

More information: www.agritechnica.com

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