AGCO's Brands Win Red Dot Design Award 2018

Apr 09, 2018

AGCO, a global leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of agricultural machinery and solutions, has been awarded two Red Dot Design Awards for its IDEAL Combine and the Valtra A4 Series Tractors. The Red Dot Design competition is one of the largest and most respected design competitions in the world. More than 6,300 submissions from 59 countries entered this year's contest and were evaluated by a jury consisting of 40 independent design experts from around the globe.

“We are very honored to receive the Red Dot Design Award,” said Martin Richenhagen, Chairman, President & CEO, AGCO Corporation. “This recognition underlines our commitment to design, innovation and quality.”

The IDEAL combine and the Valtra A4 Series were both recognized in the category ‘Commercial Vehicles.’ IDEAL is a newly developed combine that unites brand-new designs and cutting-edge technologies to empower farmers across the world to be more productive and to feed a growing world population. The jury recognized this new generation of combine harvesters with a ‘Red Dot: Best of the Best’ Award for top design quality and ground-breaking design acknowledging IDEAL’s innovative features and its unique, elegant graphite livery. IDEAL’s benefits include ease of use and optimization of complex harvesting operations. It provides the efficiency, visibility and the comfort farmers need on the field. It is also the first high capacity combine with a narrow body. What is more, IDEAL offers full connectivity, a complete and automated adjustment, and real-time crop flow visualization.

Valtra’s 4th generation A Series is a completely newly designed tractor featuring a new technical design, a brand-new cab design and multiple chassis options. The new A Series also offers farmers further customization options to tailor to their specific needs and wishes. The Red Dot Design Award recognizes the high-design quality of the A4 Series tractor. Valtra has been inspired by the basic principles of Scandinavian design which is reflected in the clear lines of the exterior of its tractors. In addition, Valtra’s design work puts a strong emphasis on usability, ergonomics, safety, durability, serviceability and productivity of the tractor. This is not the first time for Valtra to be recognized at the Red Dot Design Awards: the successful AGCO brand was already recognized for its designs in 2016 and in 2017.

Martin Richenhagen continued, “AGCO’s strong research and development backbone enables our global brands to create new designs, functions and concepts that appeal to our global customer base. Winning the Red Dot Design Awards highlights AGCO’s commitment to be at the forefront of innovation. High-tech solutions like IDEAL and the Valtra A4 Series are shaping the future of agriculture.”

Source : AGCO

Video: 2025 USDA December Crop Report a “Dud” + Trump $12 Billion U.S. Farm Aid

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Mexico is now the #1 buyer of U.S. corn, soybeans (usually China), wheat and pork!
USDA also released its long-term early projections but expect more changes by February of 2026.
Trump announces a $12 billion U.S. farmer aid package to be paid out by February 28, 2026. This helps no one but the ag banks, farm equipment companies, seed and fertilizer companies. It does prevent more farmer bushels from being sold near-term but is not bullish grain prices long-term. The Trump administration should focus on increasing U.S. domestic demand and propping up grain futures so farmers can cover their higher costs, up since COVID of 2020.
The China U.S. soybean purchase tracker now stands at 4.521 mmt or 38% of the 12 mmt promised by China at year end or is it end of February or the growing season? Why the discrepancy vs. the fact sheet. The optics are poor for the Trump administration.
After surging to contract highs U.S. natural gas futures plunged over 30+% in just 5-trading days!
Silver traded to new record highs as the debasement and de dollarization trade continued but technicals remain overbought near-term.
Soybean futures remained in correction mode after the funds went record long futures on Nov. 19 +233,000 contracts but the $10.80 support should hold into year end when the fund profit taking/liquidation comes to an end from the year end, end of month and end of quarter selling.
The U.S. Fed cut interest rates for the 3rd time by 25 basis points to a range of 3.50 – 3.75% and they will only cut one more time in 2026 and once in 20267/ but when Powell is gone next April the replacement is willing to cut more aggressively and we could see U.S. interest rates fall to 2.0% very bullish for ag and stocks as it could reignite inflation into 2027.
After 2 months of being drier than normal in Brazil the rains have finally arrived for the 1st half of December, and a record crop is still in the cards but if this pattern continues and verifies it could start to delay the harvest. Argentina after being too wet has turned dry but they are too small, compared top Brazil in the grand picture.
The Canadian dollar surged to $0.73 after better-than-expected employment data with 180,000 new jobs in the past 3-months and 3rd quarter GDP at +2.6% but this could be short-lived.
The latest CFTC report as of 11-19-2025 reported a record long fund position in soybeans at +233,000 contracts when 2026 March soybean futures peaked on 11-19-25 at $11.724/bu.