Winning teams get to grips with challenges.

With the motto "agri-future2020 – concepts for more efficient agriculture", CASE IH had at the start of the year challenged young farmers all over Europe to develop ideas and concepts for sustainable and efficient agriculture. As part of Agritechnica 2009 in Hannover, the winning projects were presented last week as part of a European Young Farmers' meeting.

As the winners of the competition, the jury selected two teams from Belgium and a group of young farmers from France for their ideas. There were entries from seven European countries.
These participants had developed particularly creative and yet practical concepts for agriculture as it will be in 2020.

Winning teams awarded prizes by Case IH

As part of Agritechnica, the participants presented their ideas to a wide public. For example, machine constructor Julien Levasseur and farmer Charles Chaumier from France presented the "Tractor of the Future", which operates without a driver, and analyses ground condition data in real time during every job. It thereby precisely controls the quantities applied, for example fertilisers and plant protection products, according to the soil at its current position.

Self-generating energy concept for farms

Leen Koyen and Steven Janssens from Belgium are students at the Vito Hoogstraten agricultural college. They developed a concept for how tractors could become self-propelled using a farm's own biogas. For this, the methane content in the spent air from cattle stalls is used to provide energy.

More energy from the land using mixed cultivation

Thom de Groot, Roel Gabriëls and Kristof Hofmans, also Belgian students, but from the Pito Stabroek agricultural college, presented a study on the growing of mixed cultures on one piece of land. This is intended to increase energy yields and to improve soil protection. Additionally, mixed culture is intended to enable crop sequence synergies to be better exploited, e.g. for nutrient efficiency and nitrogen output, during the same farming year than heretofore.

Case IH praises a wealth of ideas

In connection with the agri-future2020 event in Hannover und Berlin, Case IH president and CEO, Andreas Klauser, emphasised that the youngsters, with their wealth of ideas, are taking up the challenges facing agriculture in the future, and meeting them with creative approaches. Jury member Professor Dr. Ing. Hermann Knechtges of the College for Economy and Environment in Nürtingen-Geislingen praised above all the exemplary teamwork of the young agriculturists in their groups "Only through the intensive cooperation of different specialist areas are we able to solve the agricultural problems of the future. They have put their teamworking to the test by participating in the youth competition," adjudged the scientist.
Marketing Director for Case IH and Steyr in Europe, Sylvain Blaise, emphasised that Case IH will certainly examine the practicability of implementing some of the ideas presented as part of the competition, and commended the practical approach of all the project studies.

A continuation of the European youth competition in 2010 was announced by Case IH.