Kazunari Shimokawa (pictured above) will replace Dai Watanabe as president and CEO of Kverneland Group and as president of Kubota Holdings Europe.

The move will take effect in January (2019).

Dai Watanabe, the current CEO and president of Kverneland Group, has been given a new assignment as senior managing executive officer, as well as taking up the role of general manager of the strategy and operations headquarters in Kubota.

Shimokawa, the incoming president and CEO, joined Kubota in 1982. He has worked for the company for more than 36 years in various management positions.

In his current role he has been vice-president of Kubota Holdings Europe, president of Kubota Europe SAS and executive vice president of the European business unit covering tractors, engines and spare parts.

In other recent Kverneland news, in an interview with the manufacturer’s own iM FARMING magazine, Per Varhaug set out his vision for the plough of the future. Varhaug is the company’s R&D (Research and Development) director (plough division).

‘Robotised ploughs to run 24/7 in the future’

“A good plough should be able to go by itself,” he explained. “I can think of future scenarios where the plough is going to be robotised, so that it can run 24/7.

“Of course, you then need a different type of plough than we have today. We need to take care of the limited soil available for food production and, therefore, we [must] carefully look into solutions how we can, for example, reduce soil pressure to preserve it.”