AMAZONE Report - Issue 45

We have some good news!

Positive news is rare in this day and age and it is against this background that we would like to start with some good news:

Winter is coming to an end and thankfully there have been no gas shortages. Gas prices have fallen to the level before the beginning of the war one year ago. The situation in the supply chains is also improving step by step, with the result that interruptions in the production are becoming less frequent. Stability and sustainability are the watchwords in these challenging times. AMAZONE has been able to overcome this period of extreme shortages with suppliers in 2022 with a forward-looking procurement strategy, a high level of in-house production, extensive stockpiling and very flexible teams. New innovative products will help the agricultural sector to work more sustainably in future.

All in all, AMAZONE was able to conclude the 2022 financial year with significant growth and the volume of orders in spring 2023 is at a very high level. We were also delighted with the current rating given by farmers in the DLG Image Barometer. Here, AMAZONE achieved fourth place as the best of the medium-sized equipment manufacturers. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our many customers and partners. This high ranking is a great incentive for us for the future.

Under these conditions, and against the background of our 140th anniversary, we continue to look forward to the future with confidence.

Christian Dreyer and Dr. Justus Dreyer

Styria swears by AMAZONE

Gady has been our partner in Austria for more than 20 years

The Gady company, which supplies the agricultural sector in Styria and parts of Burgenland with cutting-edge technology, is one of the biggest and most important agricultural machinery dealers in Austria. Founded by Franz Gady in 1936, the company is nowadays in the hands of the third generation and managed by the owner Philipp Gady and Eugen Roth.

The company has 17 different branches with almost 400 employees, including around 50 trainees. Agricultural machinery from Steyr, Massey Ferguson and AMAZONE are distributed in the main.

Gady has held an agricultural machinery exhibition twice a year since 1966. This has developed into a popular festival with the name “Gady Markt”. These big events always take place at the headquarters of the Gady company in Lebring near Graz, the state capital of Styria. Apart from agricultural machinery and tractors, cars are also showcased there in the meantime. In combination with further stalls based on the theme of mobility, hundreds of vintage tractors as well as regional and culinary specialities and drinks, this major event has an appeal which extends well beyond the borders of Styria and attracts up to 20,000 visitors twice a year.

Here, a company with a long tradition encounters another company with a long tradition, because Gady has successfully distributed AMAZONE machines in Austria for more than 20 years.

140 years of AMAZONE

A successful family history

Heinrich Dreyer founded his company in 1883: “H. Dreyer Fabrik für landw. Maschinen und Geräte in Gaste, Post Hasbergen bei Osnabrück”. In the process, Heinrich took over the workshop, which had already been in family ownership for three generations as a joinery and wheelwright's workshop, from his father. In addition to other agricultural implements, Heinrich‘s ancestors also built grain cleaners – so-called winnowers – by hand. The Dreyer family had already supplied a grain cleaning machine to the city of Osnabrück in around 1780, i.e. 100 years before the actual foundation of the company. This historical implement is now in the factory museum and is evidence of an unbroken tradition of the Dreyer family and the AMAZONE company which goes back more than 240 years.

Heinrich Dreyer built up the series production of his machines with his two half-brothers, Johann and Friederich, and an apprentice. His newly designed grain cleaning machine, which he presented at the DLG Exhibition after a few years, was the only one of its kind to receive a medal. Heinrich then gave it the name "AMAZONE". Six years later, he had already sold 2,000 of them and then 3,000 more after another two years.  

From 1915 he called his company "AMAZONENWERK", a name which was later to become well-known in many parts of the world. He built ploughs and later also cultivators to extend his product range. Potato sorting machines, which played a prominent role in later years, were added in 1910. Finally, Heinrich developed a new kind of fertiliser spreader from 1915, which enabled him take over as market leader in the 1930s.  

Heinrich transferred the company to his sons Dipl. Ing. Heinrich Dreyer and Erich Dreyer, a commercial administrator, in 1936. Heinrich took over the development and Erich the sales and distribution. The war ended the successful development. Erich became a soldier and fell in 1945 and Heinrich Dreyer was forced to manage the company alone, as had been the case during the war. We are indebted to him for the construction of our subsidiary plant in Hude in 1956. When he also died suddenly and unexpectedly at the age of 57 in November, his death presented the company and his successors with massive problems.  

The third generation of the Dreyer family then followed with two grandsons of the founder: Dr. Heinz Dreyer and his cousin Dipl. Eng. Klaus Dreyer. Heinz took over the further development of the product range and Klaus the production and sales. Amongst other things, Heinz developed the AMAZONE ZA twin disc fertiliser spreader and the AMAZONE D4 seed drill, both of which were very successful.

Sales increased, with the result that further production locations in Forbach (France) and Leipzig were added. Sales locations also followed in Harworth (Great Britain) and Méré (France).  

The production range also continued to expand over the years: potato harvesters, seed drills, manure spreaders, crop protection sprayers, soil tillage systems, precision seeders and ultimately even groundcare machinery. The company abandoned potato harvesters, sorters and manure spreaders from 1965 and concentrated on fertiliser spreaders, seed drills and PTO-driven soil tillage systems. After entering into plant protection in 1969, the product range was expanded and concentrated on “modern technology for crop production”, a core area which has remained so to this day.  

Available in the fan shop from May
Our new 140 years of Amazone collection: https://fanshop.amazone.de

The 4th generation then joined AMAZONEN-WERKE in 1999 with Dipl.-Eng. Christian Dreyer and his great cousin, Dr. Justus Dreyer. The owners also shared the sales and development tasks here. The story of success has continued in conjunction with an expert management team. In the meantime, there are nine production plants and eleven sales locations worldwide. In addition, an international sales network with trading partners and more than 70 importers is in place, with the result that exports make up 80% of the business. AMAZONE is proud that is continuing to make history with its 2,500 employees and sales which have passed the three-quarter billion mark.

New AMAZONE KE 6002-2 Rotamix rotary harrow

6 m folding for solo use

AMAZONE has extended its range of new KE 02 Rotamix rotary harrows by the addition of a foldable 6 m variant. The KE 6002-2-400 Rotamix is approved for tractors up to 400 hp and is characterised particularly by its high output and very good crumbling.

It folds down to 3 m for transport and can be combined with the complete AMAZONE packer roller range and with a levelling board for levelling the soil. The trailing tines produce a very good crumb structure, even on heavy soils. The new rotary harrows are therefore very well suited for seedbed preparation, particularly following the plough. The high number of 24 tine carriers permits the use of a smaller spur gear diameter. This layout meant that a very compact and light design of the robust rotary harrow trough was possible. The tried and tested Quick+Safe system provides the 290 mm tines with an integrated stone release plus the tines can be easily exchanged without the need for tools.

The heart of the new rotary harrow prototypes is the DirectDrive gearbox, via which the higher power flow is transmitted directly to the spur gears of the tine carriers. On the new KE 6002-2-400 Rotamix there is no power redirection thus ensuring an excellent, low-wear, power transmission. This KE 6002 Rotamix is a perfect fit for the AMAZONE rotary implement range.

Onboard workshop together with a hotspot

LuTS, our partner from Eisleben with its own AMAZONE mobile service

As an agricultural machinery dealer, commercial vehicle workshop and trailer manufacturer, LuTS GmbH has been a partner of ours for many years – first of all of Bodenbearbeitungsgeräte Leipzig GmbH & Co. KG (BBG) and now of AMAZONE. The company has a long history which goes back to 1949 as a Machine Rental Station (MAS). It then became a state-owned enterprise VEB Kreisbetrieb für Landtechnik Eisleben (KfL Volkstedt) in 1964. In 1990 the Treuhand (Trust Agency) approved the continuation of the company with the name Land & TechnikService GmbH (LuTS) under the management of Manfred Pollin, the existing managing director. Together with Ullrich Leuteritz, he bought the company from the trust company in 1994. The AMAZONE products were in use directly after the reunification of Germany, whereas the BBG implements were in use before.

Tobias Barthel is a long-serving employee of LuTS. After his training with Manfred Pollin, he continued to extend his practical expertise with AMAZONE machinery. One day he got a second-hand AMAZONE VW van, and this is how he became known in the region as "the man in the green van". When the VW van had to be exchanged, it was replaced by a raised roof van. This is technically better equipped for customer service and offers more space for the training of young employees.

The most important AMAZONE wearing parts of LuTS and an extensive range of tools are now on board in this van, in order to provide AMAZONE customers with optimum support. For the electronics, the on-board workshop has a Wi-Fi hot spot for connection to the manufacturer or back to the company. Tobias Barthel thought that the van should continue to reflect the AMAZONE brand, so he picked out pictures together with the AMAZONE marketing photo archive and had them printed on his van. LuTS GmbH has been an AMAZONE Premium Service Partner since 2022.

Austrian Agricultural Contractors Association (VLÖ) in Altmoorhausen and at the DeLuTa 2022

The VLÖ travelled to northern Germany in December with a group of around 80 interested farmers and contractors to visit Germany's biggest event for contractors, the DeLuTa.

The trip was organised by Helmut Scherzer, the Managing Director of the VLÖ. Furthermore, there was an invitation from the German Federal Association of Contractors (BLU), which invited an additional 20 contractors from Bavaria, who joined the group. A tour of our plant in Altmoorhausen was also planned as part of the visit. Above all, the paint shop made a big impression. The focus was also on the Precea precision air seeder, which will enable AMAZONE to gain an even stronger foothold in the contractor market. In general, the VLÖ regularly visits the DeLuTa, with the size of the group being very respectable this year. AMAZONE's sales manager Roland Kratz and the two Austrian representatives Leopold Eder and Edmund Pernhofer were responsible for on-site support.

Minister visits exhibition stand

AMAZONE at SIMA in France

SIMA took place in Paris from 6 to 10 November 2022. Around 155,000 visitors caught up with the latest trends and technical innovations in the agricultural industry. AMAZONE showcased itself with a new, modern exhibition stand. Important AMAZONE innovations such as the Centaya 3000 Special pneumatic harrow-mounted seed drill and the high-output Precea precision air seeder combined with a rotary cultivator and FTender front tank in a 6 m working width were met with great interest from the visitors. Our new soil tillage implements, such as the Cobra trailed shallow cultivator, the new KE 02 rotary harrow generation and our Teres and Tyrok high-performance ploughs, were just as popular. The fertiliser and crop protection technology on show included our new BorderTS border spreading system and the large UX 7601 Super trailed sprayer.

Florent Guilleman (Managing Director of AMAZONE Auneau, France) and Bettina and Christian Dreyer (owners of AMAZONE) presented the revolutionary SmartSprayer technology to the French Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau. This new Spot Spraying technology integrates state-of-the-art camera technology and AI image processing with crop establishment know-how to create a unique crop protection system. With field-specific threshold values and simultaneous full-width and spot application in a single pass, herbicide costs can be reduced by up to 70%.

The "FARM MACHINE 2023" award was presented at SIMA. Our new AMAZONE terminal software GPS-ScenarioControl for the automation of complex switching operations was the winner in the software category. This coveted award is presented in the agricultural machinery sector by an international jury consisting of trade journalists.

40 years of AMAZONE Ltd.

Success story in Great Britain

The sales of AMAZONE agricultural machinery in Great Britain has enjoyed a long tradition. Curtis & Padwick took over the representation in Great Britain for the products of AMAZONEN-WERKE as our importer as early as 1960. At that time, this company was a regional representative of Claas in Harsewinkel. This worked very well for some years and several thousand AMAZONE ZA twin disc fertiliser spreaders were sold. After the contract expired, Taskers, a long-established company based in Andover took over as our importer. Taskers had manufactured a number of agricultural machines including traction engines. The Taskers sales manager responsible for AMAZONE was Rod Baker.

When Taskers had a prolonged weak phase, we decided to found AMAZONE Ltd. together with Mr Baker in 1983. We started on a decommissioned military airfield called Cuckoo Copse in Lambourn Woodlands. Our first employee was Simon Brown. We gradually took on more trained staff and the business developed very quickly in a positive manner in the early years.

In 1989 we finally decided to buy land in Harworth near Doncaster and set up our own premises with a warehouse, spare parts store, office and training facilities. This investment also developed very successfully. Our first employee, Simon Brown, was to become the managing director.

However, the premises in Harworth also became too small over time, so we decided to buy a property called Orchard Farm and build a new, larger location with spacious facilities and 12 hectares of land for trials and demonstrations.

Sales now reach new record levels every year. Fortunately, Great Britain offers huge potential, and we are in the process of further optimising our market share with AMAZONE machinery, in order to be able to continue the success story for a long time to come.

Record number of visitors at EIMA in Italy

The precision air seeder and rotary harrow are the focus of interest

From 6 to 10 November 2022, the EIMA took place in Bologna, Italy, for the 45th time. The record attendance from 2018 (317,000 visitors) was topped once again with a total of 327,100 visitors. Approximately 18 % (60,000) of the visitors came from abroad. This establishes EIMA as a top event on the international stage.

AMAZONE was naturally among the 1,950 exhibitors from more than 50 countries showing their product range. Products from all areas were exhibited via our importer SAVE, whereby the visitors were focused on our new machines such as the Precea precision air seeder with FTender, the Centaya Special pneumatic harrow-mounted seed drill and the KE 6002-2 Rotamix rotary harrow.

The Managing Director of SAVE, Nicolò Roveda, was also very satisfied with the interest in AMAZONE machinery and is confidently looking forward to a large number of follow-up sales.

The AMAZONE sales and service subsidiary in Hungary is 15 years old

The success story of the AMAZONE sales and service subsidiary in Debrecen, Hungary, began in 2008. To begin with, AMAZONE machinery was sold through a dealer. However, when the latter had to file for bankruptcy, AMAZONE had no other option than to found a subsidiary company itself to distribute the product range - this was the birth of AMAZONEN-WERKE Kft.

4 employees started work in a small office. The business flourished and over the years the office became a large building, in which 25 people are employed today. Machine sales, service and the company's in-house spare parts warehouse have generated sales of between 8 and 10 million euros in the last few years. The local staff are always in direct contact with the customers and partners to assist with the daily challenges from machine selection to installation or even with technical problems and spare parts supply.

AMAZONE has very strong sales in Hungary, especially in the areas of crop protection and fertiliser spreaders, whereby the Precea precision air seeder is forging ahead and gradually gaining more and more market share. A government subsidy on machinery for precision agriculture for the years 2022 and 2023 enabled AMAZONE Kft. to achieve a significant increase in sales in 2022. An even better financial year is expected for this year.

The company is currently working hard to increase its market share in the area of soil tillage. The marketing of the Tyrok semi-mounted reversible plough, the Ceus tine & disc combination cultivator and the Cobra trailed shallow cultivator will be intensified. In the plough sector, the focus will be on the products produced in the AMAZONE factory in Mosonmagyaróvár (the Teres and Cayros mounted reversible ploughs and the Tyrok semi-mounted reversible plough). For this purpose, along with the other activities, several field days with the machines in work are planned for 2023 and 2024.

AMAZONE Kft. has sold more than 5,000 machines in the past 15 years. A result to be proud of for the wholly-owned AMAZONE subsidiary, which will certainly continue to hold its own in the market for many more years, thanks to its qualified employees.

Management trio at our plough plant in Hungary delivers maximum performance

Our Hungarian plant is located in Mosonmagyaróvár in the tri-border region between Austria and Slovakia. Not far from the Danube, the successful plough range built around the Cayros is being further expanded here. Traditional values, the highest quality and a willingness to innovate characterise the plough plant, which AMAZONE took over from the well-respected company Vogel & Noot in 2016 and has further specialised since then. An experienced management trio, which is further improving a highly efficient production process with a great deal of creativity, dedication and expertise, is ultimately behind this success.

Head of financial accounting and human resources

Dr. Anikó Berényi Laczó successfully completed her studies at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of the University of Budapest in 1990 before she taught at the University of Agriculture in Mosonmagyaróvár. She acquired a further diploma as an economist at the Budapest Business School in 2000 and trained as a tax consultant and accountant. She then moved to the private sector and joined the Vogel & Noot Group after working as a CFO (Chief Financial Officer) in the trading sector for eleven years. After the takeover by AMAZONE, she was put in charge of finance and accounting, personnel management and general administration.

Head of production and maintenance

Mr Balázs Polgar studied agricultural engineering and, after his studies, worked in agricultural enterprises for one year in the USA and six years in Ireland. With a great deal of practical experience in the bag, he switched to the family farm in 2008 and taught at the university in Gödöllo in parallel. From 2012, he worked throughout Europe as a team leader in the maintenance of power stations, oil refineries and chemical plants, before he joined AMAZONE Technology Kft. in 2017. Since then, he has been responsible for the technical area of our Hungarian plant with his considerable know-how and practical experience.

Head of operations scheduling and intralogistics

Mr Hegyi Tamas is the third member of the team. As a skilled automotive technician and turner, he started in the plough manufacturing department at Vogel & Noot in 1993. He moved to the quality assurance department in 1996, where he carried out production line tests and final inspections. In parallel, he trained in logistics, with the result that he joined operations scheduling in 2001 with the main focus on spare parts. He was appointed head of department six years later. Since the takeover by AMAZONE, he has also been responsible for intralogistics.

We are very pleased that we can rely on our Hungarian management team and hope that they will contribute to the success story of AMAZONE Werke for many years to come.

“Dreyers Federkraft“ was the revenue driver

The potato sorter was an important machine in the AMAZONE product range. At the suggestion of Mr Heinemann, head of the agricultural machinery wholesalers in Osnabrück and friend of the founder Heinrich Dreyer, the latter built the first potato sorting machine in 1910. Mr Heinemann liked it so much that he immediately ordered 500 of them. The flat sieve of this sorter was mounted on springs, so Heinrich called it “Dreyers Federkraft“ [Dreyer’s Spring Power].

The sorter business developed into the main source of revenue of AMAZONEN-WERKE after only a few years. The “Dreyers Federkraft“ models included the “Federkraft Secunda“, a giant system which was motor-driven and mounted on wheels for easier transport. This machine from 1932 was provided with a roof for working outdoors. They were also available without a roof for working indoors. “Dreyers Federkraft“ was produced until the 1960s and more than 100,000 were sold. Over the years, the sorting of potatoes was gradually taken over by large cooperatives and the sales of sorters decreased continuously until the production at AMAZONE was discontinued.

Nowadays AMAZONE concentrates on machinery for modern crop production, but the era of the potato sorter will never be forgotten.

75 years as a member of the DLG (German Agricultural Society)

At the beginning of this year, AMAZONEN-WERKE was presented with the badge of honour for its 75 years as a member of the DLG (German Agricultural Society). The presentation ceremony took place in Hanover as part of the DLG Winter Meeting and was conducted by the DLG President Mr Hubertus Paetow. Our sales manager Mr Kratz received the badge of honour and the certificate and also presented Mr Paetow with a gift from AMAZONE. On this occasion, it was recalled that the DLG awarded a bronze medal to the founder of AMAZONEN-WERKE, Mr. Heinrich Dreyer, for a grain cleaning machine in 1892. That is now more than 130 years ago. This history is unique. AMAZONE stands for success with tradition!

18. Leipzig theme evening

A firmly established event for the farmers in the region

The local AMAZONE team was very pleased with the extremely good response to the 18th traditional Leipzig theme evening. After a two-year break due to the pandemic, the Active Centre at the factory was filled to capacity with 450 farmers and contractors. The professional establishment of catch crops is gaining increasingly in importance as a result of the changing climatic and political environment in agriculture and this was the focal point at this year's event.

Christoph Seyfert, crop consultant at Hanse-Agro, illustrated various strategies to achieve optimum weed suppression, an improved soil structure and, last but not least, ideal nutrient conservation in the phase between cash crops in catch crop establishment.

Christoph Laumann, head of the AMAZONE soil tillage product line, showed the audience how well developed catch crops with a high level of organic matter can be optimally incorporated in the soil, in order to create ideal conditions for the decomposition process. He provided an overview of the current AMAZONE soil tillage product range. Newly developed implements such as the front knife roller combined with the new Cobra trailed shallow cultivator or the established Catros compact disc harrow break up the organic matter before the subsequent uniform incorporation, in order to make the accumulated nutrients of the catch crop available to the following crop as quickly as possible.

After an optional factory tour, there was lively discussion among the visitors in a convivial atmosphere until late in the evening. The last Monday in January 2024 is once again firmly fixed in the calendar for the 19th theme evening!

The new "House of Good Ideas"

The new "House of Good Ideas" is located directly opposite the AMAZONEN-WERKE Active Centre in Gaste. Built in 1980 by the Gottwald brothers, AMAZONEN-WERKE was able to acquire the house in 2022 as there were no heirs. This was a great stroke of luck for AMAZONE, as further office space was urgently needed.

The conversion of the building was completed in February of this year, after family members of our sales company in Ukraine had found refuge there for a few months in the meantime. Today, the semi-detached house with around 40 workstations is a perfect office for our designers in the Software and Smart Farming teams. Apart from these rooms, there are also two larger corridors which are flooded with light and have been planned as open areas for meeting and exchanging ideas. In addition to the building, we were able to extend the existing car park for our employees on the property by around 20 parking spaces. This was also a stroke of luck, because it allowed us to use the extension to install several charging stations for e-cars.

Plough expert with a passion

Josef Hirtler, Export Manager

Josef Hirtler's professional career began over 35 years ago at the Austrian agricultural machinery manufacturer Vogel & Noot, where he held a wide variety of positions in product management, marketing and sales over the years.

With the takeover of the Vogel & Noot plough range by AMAZONE in 2016, Josef Hirtler also joined us and initially supported the integration of the plough range and the global sale of Cayros ploughs in the area of product marketing.

Mr Hirtler switched to export in October 2019 and took over management of the markets in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary with our own distribution company, former Yugoslavia, Greece, Cyprus and Turkey. He took over from Mr Wolfgang Schwarze in this respect.

Mr Hirtler feels very much at home in the AMAZONE family in the meantime and we wish him continued success in the development of his markets.

Agricultural machinery in his genes

Sebastian Straßburger is our man in Westphalia

Sebastian Straßburger became part of the extended AMAZONE family in 2011. He started his career in international sales promotion for the soil tillage sector and travelled throughout the world for us. He gained valuable experience from demonstrations and training with our importers and customers on his travels. He then followed in the footsteps of our long-time employee Hans-Rudolf Höner as representative for the Westphalia region at the end of 2017.

Westphalia and agriculture have always been his home and his close ties and interest in agricultural machinery have been strengthened over the years. He spent a lot of time on his uncle's farm even as a child, and he also supported well-known farms in the vicinity wherever he could during his school days and studies. Farming was always a part of his everyday life. It was therefore no surprise that he finally opted for a course of studies in agricultural sciences at the University of Applied Sciences in Soest, which he successfully completed in 2011 with a master’s degree.

Mr Straßburger is married, the father of two children and lives with his family in the district of Soest on a farm which he runs as a sideline.

Andrea and Ansgar are AMAZONE fans

AMAZONE connected professionally and privately

Hof große Austing in Damme is an important partner farm of AMAZONEN-WERKE. In cooperation with the Schröder company in Ihorst near Holdorf, AMAZONE organised a collaborative field evening here in August 2022, at which a wide range of AMAZONE machinery for precision crop production and the latest generation of tractors from Fendt were shown in practical operation. Ansgar große Austing and his wife Andrea manage the farm and 200 hectares together with his parents. The land is mainly used to grow cereals, maize and potatoes. They also fatten pigs and bullocks and produce eggs.

Andrea, who grew up on her parents' farm, started her professional career in 2000 with an apprenticeship as an industrial clerk at AMAZONE and is still working part-time for the company today. After successfully completing her training, she worked in the purchasing department and as an assistant in technical development department. Alongside her professional career, she also trained as a farmer. She also represented the company as an AMAZONE model and ambassador at major events. In addition to her job, she is currently taking care of her two boys (6 and 1 year old). Her favourite hobby is still tractor driving, which she often has the opportunity to do on her farm.

Ansgar große Austing is a master agriculturist and likes to keep up to date with current themes and trends in agricultural machinery. He is particularly interested in the topic of precision farming, which will be further integrated in the farm. He is currently focusing on spreaders from AMAZONE, especially the ZA-V Profis Hydro, in order to take a further step towards the precision application of fertilisers on the farm. He enjoys spending time with his family in his spare time.

Hof große Austing is now mainly equipped with AMAZONE machinery. If you look in the buildings, you will find a Cataya harrow-mounted seed drill, a Cenius mounted cultivator, a UX 5201 trailed sprayer, a ZA-M mounted fertiliser spreader and a Precea precision air seeder, which is brand new. Ansgar and Andrea work with AMAZONE implements out of conviction. The machinery available means that nothing stands in the way of precision farming.

An unrivalled inventor and passionate family business owner has passed away.

Our shareholder and longstanding Managing Director, Prof. h.c. Dr. Dr. h.c. Heinz Dreyer, passed away on 17 February 2023 at the age of 90.

Dr. Heinz Dreyer decisively shaped sustainable development in the AMAZONE Group for many decades. As soon as he joined the company management in 1958, he demonstrated a strong commitment to research and product development. The development of agricultural machinery was always for him a matter very close to his heart. Numerous pioneering inventions and patents can be related back to this successful innovator of agricultural machinery. For example, he invented the first ZA three-point linkage mounted, twin disc fertiliser spreader, which later became the forerunner to almost every other fertiliser spreader used around the world.

He set further milestones with the design of seed drills for larger working widths and invented the legendary AMAZONE D4 tractor-mounted seed drill, which soon enabled the company to become market leader in this field as well. Ahead of his time, he turned his attention to the progressive method of direct seeding as early as 1975 and invented a ground-breaking chisel opener for this purpose. His achievements were recognised in many ways. Over the years, he came up with a large number of inventions which received many awards and medals for these many advancements in agricultural machinery. Dr Heinz Dreyer himself received top-level scientific awards and important honorary degrees for his work.

This incessant innovation, combined with high standards for quality along with having the ability to communicate on equal terms with farmers and scientists from all over the world, were the key to his success. Over the years, Dr. Heinz Dreyer firmly anchored these AMAZONE virtues into the DNA of the entire company. Furthermore, he always attached great importance to having a family working environment in all areas of the company.

As the third generation of the Dreyer family, Dr Heinz Dreyer, together with his cousin Klaus Dreyer, played a major role in building up the company, and they jointly developed it into a global agricultural machinery manufacturer with their business acumen. The continued independence of the owner-managed family business was always at the centre of his considerations. Dr. Heinz Dreyer transferred his management responsibilities to his son, Dr. Justus Dreyer, in 2005. Nevertheless, he continued to be still responsible for AMAZONE seeding systems and their optimum fertilisation and maintained strong links with universities.

The death of Dr. Heinz Dreyer has left a huge hole in our company. The family, the entire management team and all employees will respectfully continue his life's work.