At Agritechnica 2023, Continental is presenting its broad product and service portfolio for the agricultural sector, demonstrating how innovative technology solutions support both farmers and manufacturers in overcoming the challenges of the future. During the first day’s press conference, Executive Board members Christian Kötz and Philip Nelles pointed out the importance of the agricultural business as a strategic, fast-growing segment.
Under the tagline “Our Smart Farming. For your harvest of tomorrow”, the company is presenting a diverse range of sustainable and technologically advanced solutions and concepts – from state-of- the-art tire technology to autonomous robotic solutions. All of them have been developed specifically with agricultural applications in mind, proving how important it is to understand customer requirements. Insights from Continental’s study “Agriculture in Transition”, was also be shared at the press conference, including how farmers see sustainability as one of the main challenges for the future. The study confirms that most farmers take this responsibility very seriously while trying to tackle the challenge of adapting to new conditions caused by environmental change.
From carbon goals to green robots: Continental’s vision for the next age of farming
“Our deep understanding of the industry drives us to not only improve efficiency and sustainability for our customers, but to examine every facet, from production to materials. Many OEMs have set themselves ambitious sustainability goals, which closely resemble Continental’s own ambition of becoming 100 percent carbon neutral by 2050 at the latest,” emphasized Philip Nelles, Member of the Executive Board for the Group Sector ContiTech. “Continental aims to support this transformation to a smarter and more sustainable agriculture. As a partner for innovative solutions, we provide farmers with access to technologies that will help them enter the new age of smart farming.”
One of the smart solutions presented at Agritechnica is an environmentally friendly weed control system, designed and developed by Continental Engineering Services (CES), which specializes in providing development services for technology companies across multiple industries. The prototype is based on optical sensor technology and supported by automotive-grade software and AI. The system provides a highly efficient and precise organic method of agricultural weed control by accurately detecting weeds and eradicating them with boiling water instead of herbicides. “This concept demonstrates not just our expertise in agriculture and our ability to develop new technologies, but also how we adapt existing technologies to offer solutions for upcoming needs,” said Nelles.