Having bought Vogel & Noot four years ago, Amazone now boasts a complete line of tillage equipment – from ploughing and min-till to crop nutrition and protection.
Amatechnica played host to it all recently, at the company’s headquarters in Hasbergen-Gaste, Germany. For the tillage farmer, Amazone has become a one-stop shop; all it’s missing is the tractor.
AgriLand spoke to Christian Dreyer – the man at the head of the family-run business.
He explained that the company has no intention of providing the so-called ‘full-line’ or becoming part of a bigger entity’s ‘full-line’ (i.e. whereby global farm machinery manufacturers produce tractors and every conceivable machine and implement too).
An independent brand
Many of the major tractor brands can now provide customers with all manner of implements and machines – from a seed drill to a baler.
Christian countered this by saying: “In our view, you always have to question what the farmer wants and – if you talk to farmers – for the most part they say: ‘We want to have free choice and we want to be able to change.’
“If a farmer has one supplier for everything, including software and electronics, it is difficult and he or she is dependent on that supplier.
Our goal is to be better in specialised products.
“For us it’s a challenge; but for the bigger companies the challenge is even bigger because they have to be in front of everything.”
Amazone’s Andreas Hemeyer added: “We know that we are very much dependent on innovation; the product has to become more efficient.
“Of course, access to the market will be difficult; but we always say when our products are good then they have value-for-money.
“When we develop our brand further, as we are doing, then we believe that we will find enough farmers who are prepared to buy our products,” he added.
Ploughing a new furrow
The plough line-up is possibly one of the most interesting parts of Amazone’s range at present; the acquisition of Vogel & Noot was part of its brand development.
A number of these ploughs have been sold in Ireland already. Scale in the range runs from two to eight furrows.
The most impressive on display (at Amatechnica) was the semi-mounted Hektor. It’s the newest; it comes in six to eight furrows.