Precise, electric and autonomous
What can we expect at the Sima in Paris?
The agricultural engineering world has two events to look forward to this year. The Sima in Paris and the Agritechnica in Hanover. On February 26, technology enthusiasts can return to France. We are certainly looking ahead to what to expect. To what extent do the big companies keep their powder dry for later in the year?
It is a difficult situation for the organization of the Sima. Because, are there enough major novelties to attract visitors? The fair relies mainly on companies located in France or for which the country is an important market. And even that offers no guarantees. Also tractor builders with a factory in the country: Kubota, Claas and Massey Ferguson, are more inclined to show news, although the urgency has also disappeared there. Manufacturers prefer to organize their own press event or only show the back of their tongue in Germany.
What can we expect in Paris? Probably not just striking tractors, wide seed drills or tippers that can take even more. Most innovation is in the field of electronics. News is 'limited' to a new type of drone, another sensor, tablet or software program. That makes the whole less spectacular, but by definition no less interesting.
Leadership
Tractor manufacturers are in a tricky package. Do they have to wait until the Agritechnica or in Paris already show a new model? Now that most manufacturers have adapted their tractor program to the latest emission requirements, the launch of new models is also drying up. Undoubted crowd pullers are the NH Drive and Case IH autonomous tractors. Both have won a silver medal and are sure to be there. That is a first for Europe. The tractors were previously only seen at the Farm Progress Show. New Holland is likely to attract even more visitors. The takeover deal with Kongskilde is complete. There is a good chance that yellow or blue implements can be seen.
Case IH and New Holland have another little news to show in Paris. The renewed T4 and Quantum narrow gauge tractors. Kubota shows the new M5001. The M7 builds it in Dieppe (Fr) and there are rumors that a heavier six-cylinder M8 with ZF CVT transmission is in the pipeline. Are the Japanese going to surprise in Paris? This also applies to Claas, which produces its tractors in Le Mans. The Xerion with MTU engine is not on schedule until 2019. Maybe Claas will unexpectedly come up with a Tier 4 final Arion 500 and 600? It may well be the last major tractor builder not ready for Tier 4 Final in this power class. McCormick and Landini do show their Tier 4 copies. JCB will also be there with the renewed Fastrac 8000.
Medal winners
As mentioned, Case and New Holland won a silver medal. The gold medal winners are also worth seeing. Michelin got one for their new type of tire (Evobib) and also Trelleborg. The VIP system combines the pressure exchange system with a belt. There are also silver medals for the CVT transmission from JCB, the electric flail mower from Rousseau and the automatic lubrication system from John Deere: Smart AutoLube. Honorable mentions are also worth studying in some cases. For example, the 100 percent electric Sesame tractor from John Deere and a new type of boom height control from Amazone and Horsch on the sprayer. Electronics dominate among the honorable mentions: Internet of things, a weather station, or GPS from Claas, to name a few.
Section Control
The French spreader specialist Rolland shows Roll Control X30. It uses a Topcon screen to control the section closure of wide spreaders. Bogballe comes with Calibrator Free for fertilizer spreaders. A free app for Android tablets that controls sections of fertilizer spreaders. The app works with all W-series spreaders. By the way, you do need to purchase a GPS antenna and module.
Kverneland
There is more news in the spreader field. Several innovations are coming to Paris from Nieuw-Vennep. Kverneland is introducing the Tellus Pro Isobus terminal there. The successor to the Tellus II. The case is apparently the same, however, it now contains a quad core processor which makes it faster and runs 'heavier' applications. A new application is the Autodrive RTK-GPS control. The Tellus Pro also has a new capacitive screen, which gives the feeling of a luxury tablet. In addition, it is easier to read in the cabin. The terminal can control the section control of two machines at the same time as well as the GPS, which should make a tractor terminal superfluous. Control via speech recognition has already been shown by the company, but that has probably crystallized now.
In addition to the electronics news, Kverneland will be showing various new haymaking and sowing machines. Also new is the Vicon RO-XXL Geospread fertilizer spreader. It is also available as a Kverneland TL-X Geospread. There are four models and a high speed model where you can spread at higher speeds.
Potatoes
Not unimportant for Dutch visitors: What can be seen about potato mechanization? Most Belgian and French manufacturers have already shown everything at the Interpom. This also applies to Grimme, Miedema and AVR. It is mainly the novelties of 2016 that can be viewed again in Paris.
Precision farming
Those who are not fond of shiny steel should visit the Start-Up village. A gathering place for new electronics. With especially many French companies that offer precision farming solutions. The world's largest drone manufacturer DJI shows their Agras spray drone at the fair. It is certainly not the only one.
In total, the innovations category on the Sima website has 27 pages, from hydraulic coupling to tablet. So something for everyone. Admission is free for Dutch visitors. Click here to request a free access badge. The fair starts on Sunday 26 February and runs until Thursday 2 March.
Niels van der Boom
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