New Business Fields Automotive Technology Meets Agriculture

Related Vendors

FAULHABER Drive Systems

Wuxi InfiMotion Technology Co., Ltd.

Agricultural technology remains a promising yet currently very challenging market. Technological disruptions offer numerous opportunities to expand businesses or enter this market with good solutions.

The boom following the corona shock of 2020 is over. While the agricultural machinery market experienced almost continuous strong growth worldwide between 2021 and 2023, the figures have been significantly weaker since 2024. This is partly because the catch-up effects of the pandemic have temporarily led to high inventory levels.

In this challenging environment, German agricultural machinery companies are also struggling, having previously benefited from a growth phase lasting around a decade. The revenue of German agricultural machinery and tractor manufacturers fell from 15.4 to 11.1 billion euros from 2023 to 2024 (minus 28 percent). In the first half of 2025, this decline has reduced to about 10 percent. Tractors and harvesting technology were particularly affected.

"2025 and 2026 will remain challenging for the market," described Christoph Gröblinghoff, chairman of Fendt management, about a year ago. According to recent surveys, however, the industry sentiment is gradually improving, said the German Engineering Federation (VDMA).

Technology Transfer Possible

Globally, the agricultural sector is navigating the tension between the hunger of a growing world population and, on the other hand, stress factors such as diminishing resources (land, water, fertilizer), increasing regulation and sustainability debates, rising energy prices, and trade barriers. "The task is to generate higher crop yields with fewer resources. This can only be achieved with innovative and resource-efficient technologies, which offers lucrative growth opportunities for the industry," explains Peter Fintl, Vice President Technology & Innovation at Capgemini Engineering. He sees particular potential in the drive sector for traditional automotive suppliers. "In this area, the existing expertise can be very well transferred, from the base engine to exhaust after-treatment and thermal management."

Since the implementation of Stage 5 emissions standards for non-road vehicles, the focus for combustion engines has shifted less towards nitrogen oxides and particulates and more towards adaptation for drop-in fuels. Many manufacturers have now approved engines for RME (rapeseed methyl ester) and HVO (hydrotreated vegetable oil). Another alternative is ethanol-compatible combustion concepts, which have been widely used in Brazil for years. At the same time, many individual measures are being implemented to increase drive efficiency, such as various operating characteristics or increasing engine drag torque during downhill driving to minimize the use of service brakes. For the latter, tractor manufacturers are using, for example, throttle valves in the air path, variable geometry turbochargers, decompression valves, and retarder-like hydraulic solutions.

Stepless in the Upswing

Battery-electric driving has now arrived in tractors in the lower power range and other vehicles with smaller operating radiuses. However, despite foreseeably lower variable costs, the high battery costs and limited practical experience in everyday use mean that no cost advantages in terms of Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) are yet apparent compared to combustion engine drives. However, those who can "refuel" their electric vehicles with energy from their own photovoltaic system can drive green and cost-effectively. It's no surprise that numerous other battery-electric agricultural machines or e-axles are being showcased at Agritechnica, with outputs of up to roughly 250 kilowatts, voltage levels ranging from 48 to 800 volts, and mostly LFP rather than NMC battery cell technology.

In the transmission sector, continuously variable transmissions are spreading to more and more tractor classes, such as the Variodrive concept from Fendt, the hydrostatic-mechanical power split at CNH, or the stepless transmissions from ZF at JCB. Current innovations in hydraulic systems include electronically controlled load-sensing systems and new connection concepts for the hydraulic oil supply of attachments.

Learning from the Road

Good entry opportunities for suppliers into agricultural technology also exist in electronics – from the on-board network to data transmission to the software-defined vehicle. Here, the innovation pressure on the industry is particularly high. Competent suppliers are especially in demand for autonomous driving, precision farming, and the digitalization of operations.

Same Deutz Fahr, for example, has developed a functional package that includes features known from passenger cars and trucks, such as lane-keeping assist, turn assist, adaptive cruise control with collision warning, traffic sign recognition, and object/person detection. These functions are specifically designed for tractors, taking into account front and rear attachments as well as driving on secondary roads without white lane markings or close following in the field. Trailers are also increasingly being assisted, for instance, through automatic braking of trailers when pushing against the tractor or the automatic locking of trailing steering axles. Even teleoperated driving with large tractors using a joystick, camera-based environmental monitoring, and mobile network communication is already technically possible over long distances.

In principle, the requirements for automated driving functions during field use are somewhat lower, according to TÜV Nord. However, once the agricultural machine is also approved for road traffic, it must additionally meet the extensive testing and driving requirements for automated driving functions of cars and trucks.

The Farm Goes Digital

The basis for electrified drives and driver assistance systems lies in new electronic architectures as well as various sensor and camera systems. These are also sensibly used for the further digitalization of agriculture. For example, crop production requires sophisticated process control and monitoring, and early fault detection is also based on extensive sensor and actuator systems.

New players in agricultural technology should additionally understand the specific challenges of this industry. For example, there is often a lack of highly qualified personnel for the complex operation of machines and other digital systems. Thus, the need arises for operation concepts that are as simple as possible but still allow for very detailed machine settings to accommodate all operating parameters and environmental conditions.

Compared to the passenger car and commercial vehicle segments, agricultural technology is already very advanced in embedding all work and monitoring functions in the vehicles, along with geodata and operating data, into a comprehensive management system. The industry is already widely leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) in this field. Examples include component monitoring through vibration analysis, camera image evaluation, management tasks such as maintenance and repair planning, or efficiency-oriented analysis of vehicle operation. A current showcase example is Claas's cloud-based grain processing analysis for corn silage, which eliminates the need for labor-intensive external laboratory analysis. Using a camera in the discharge spout and AI-driven image evaluation, the structure of the chopped material can be analyzed in real-time, allowing the cracker gap, driving speed, and engine power of the Claas forage harvester to be adjusted accordingly. The data can also be transferred to a cloud-based farm management system and used there for further services.

Tension Between Manual and Cyber World

However, "It doesn't work entirely without people," says Dr. Arne Bohl from Claas, for example. Practitioners from the field also regularly warn against over-engineering in digitalization, particularly in processes and machinery for arable farming. Another significant risk is cyberattacks, as digital systems in agricultural technology are traditionally designed for various brand-oriented system environments and are therefore equipped with manufacturer-independent interfaces. Such extensive digital networks offer plenty of attack points for hackers and data theft.

According to TÜV Nord, UN Regulation No. 155 (Uniform Provisions Concerning the Approval of Vehicles with regards to Cybersecurity) is currently not mandatory for agricultural machinery. However, the new Machinery Regulation EU Regulation 2023/1230 includes cybersecurity requirements that also apply to agricultural machinery. Additionally, the agricultural technology industry is currently developing the industrial standard ISO 24882 as a future state-of-the-art guideline for the cybersecurity of agricultural machines, according to TÜV Nord. For functional safety, the industry has had two specific standards, ISO 26262 and ISO 25119, in place for several years.