It’s the biggest commercial agricultural industry event in Queensland and, every year, Elders FarmFest attracts a crowd. Held over three days in Toowoomba, FarmFest is an opportunity for farmers and those working in the agricultural sector to learn about new products that can make farms more efficient and profitable.
This year, more than 1,000 companies were on site to showcase and demonstrate products and services and to unveil the latest innovations and technology in everything from tractors and irrigation equipment to pumps and tools.
DEUTZ Australia Dealer Development Manager, Shane Moretto, attended FarmFest and said it was a great opportunity to support DEUTZ Australia dealers.
“The great weather, seeing our customers and spending time with dealers were definite highlights. I spoke with satisfied long-term DEUTZ customers who told me stories and shared their firsthand experience of using DEUTZ engines,” says Shane.
“It was also rewarding to see the reactions of customers when they had a look at the new generation of DEUTZ Drive using common rail engines, such as the TD2.2 L3 and TCD7.8 L6 engines, that were on display at the Diesel Parts & Service (DPS) stand.”
Paul Brown, Sales and Marketing Manager with DPS, says the business has been attending FarmFest for around 20 years. He says it’s a key opportunity for the business to raise and maintain awareness of its product range. This year products on display included DEUTZ classic engines, the 2011s and 91x, and new engines, such as the TD 2.2 L3 and TCD 7.8 Power Packs.
“A lot of people come to our stand to look at the latest DEUTZ engines. Often, they tell us they’ve had a DEUTZ engine for years and it has 40,000 hours on it and is still going,” says Paul.
“We get a lot of positive feedback about how reliable the engines are and people were impressed by the new engines and technology. Since FarmFest we’ve been picking up business from people who visited our stand and I’m sure there will be further business as a result of FarmFest further down the track.”
In New Zealand, the key event on the agricultural calendar is the annual Fieldays exhibition at Mystery Creek, outside Hamilton. Ross Harman, DEUTZ Australia’s Business Development Manager – Engines, attended Fieldays, which is billed as the largest agricultural event in the southern hemisphere.
It has been held for the past 55 years and is a platform for companies to showcase cutting-edge technology and innovation for industries including dairy, meat, wool, forestry, horticulture, aquaculture, fishing and agri tech.
“Fieldays is an opportunity to expose DEUTZ engines to the largest number of people in one place and it is also an opportunity to find potential new OEMs to use our engines,” says Ross.
“The size of the Hansa stand, and all the Hansa models powered by DEUTZ were on display, and I spoke with key Hansa staff. They commented very positively about the level of support they received from Shaw Diesel and about the improved performance of the DEUTZ F3L2011 and F4L2011 engines.”
Shaw Diesel is a key exhibitor at Fieldays and showcased a range of DEUTZ products including classic engines, generators and a Warren Auger Bins trailer running a DEUTZ hydraulic Power Pack. There was also a Ditch Witch drill rig running a DEUTZ 2.9 engine, while the Hansa products stand included woodchippers powered by DEUTZ 2011 engines.
Geoff Nickles from Shaw Diesels says Fieldays is a key time for the business to connect with other businesses, to discuss potential sales opportunities and to raise awareness of the Shaw Diesels product range.
“Many of the customers are original equipment manufacturers looking for parts for engines – they might have large grain trucks and need engines for the pumps on those trucks, for example,” says Geoff.
“We also see homeowners who are getting into battery energy storage systems and they want to discuss generator options. There was quite a bit of interest in the DEUTZ DPS44 for that application in particular. There’s no doubt that DEUTZ products are seen as a positive feature by customers – people want to do things once and do things right and they want that quality that comes with the DEUTZ brand.”
DEUTZ Australia will also attend more events in 2024. Shane and Ben will be at the Dowerin Machinery Field Days in Dowerin, WA, on 28 and 29 August. They will display DEUTZ engines including the TD 2.2 L3, TD 2.9 L4, TCD 7.8 L6, F4L2011 X-change, the Battery Energy Storage System and the DPS 33 DB generator.
Ben and Wasantha Perera, from DEUTZ Australia’s Technical Product Support & Development – Power Solutions, will also be at the All Energy Australia Conference on 23 and 24 October in Melbourne. They will be displaying the DEUTZ Battery Energy Storage System.