Lemken has announced it will be dropping its conventional sprayer line up from the end of this year despite having unveiled a new self-propelled, the Nova at Agritechnica.

“After over 10 years operating in this segment, we have not reached a market-relevant size,” explains CEO, Anthony van der Ley. “The legal requirements in each of our markets are increasing and becoming more and more disparate. This means that there is no single Lemken field spraying standard that can meet our quality standards and the variety of customer preferences, with which we could achieve a satisfactory production run. We are also seeing that, even from a consumer standpoint, the boundaries for chemical crop care products are becoming ever higher. Although we introduced several future-focused new models at the last Agritechnica, and our team is extremely motivated by the great reception, we are choosing this moment to break from our field spraying range in a responsible manner”.

The firm adds that it plans to strengthen its cultivator, drill and other crop care products, the latter consisting of rebranded Sulky fertiliser spreaders which Lemken is selling in some markets and the Dutch Steketee mechanical weeding range which it purchased two years ago.

“Not only does Steketee offer a range of innovative hoeing technology, it also has the most intelligent camera technology on the market,” says Mr van der Ley. “We want to connect these machines to our digital solutions and make them adaptive. The environment is changing very fast right now. This is why farmers and contractors are now positioning themselves, whether they farm organically or conventionally, and are choosing the best model for them to be able to farm smartly and sustainably. It is a future theme for all of us, to ensure global food security despite environmental restrictions”.

The current sprayer production site at Haren will switch to drill assembly and there are also plans to extend the facility. This shift in production will also free up capacity at the Alpen site for increased cultivator manufacturing.