There is no shortage of shiny new metal on display at this week’s French SIMA show, but many exhibitors are also using the opportunity to talk about new developments for the future. This includes well-known French cultivator and sugar beet harvester maker Franquet, which reckons there is growing farmer concern to the heavy weight and compaction damage caused by many of today’s self-propelled machines. With this in mind, it is looking to develop a lightweight and very futuristic-looking two-row trailed machine. All they are prepared to reveal for now is the current computer-generated image is about to migrate from the drawing board to a working prototype. The plan is to test it this autumn, and yes it is quite possible both topper and harvester will be fitted with rubber tracks.