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Kubota's Technology Supports Precision Farming

Now that a new organizational setup is in place, efforts to expand sales in the smart farming market are being orchestrated by the farm machinery segment, which offers the combined solution of “tractors + implements,” rather than offering them individually in each national market. The powerhouse behind this strategy is the EU Agricultural Business Unit, which is a cross-functional team of members from Kubota's business units in Europe. Mickaël Provost is the product manager responsible for the introduction of tractors for farming use. Based in France, he currently plays a prominent role in promoting sales of the M7001 Series for the entire European market by reengineering regional sales strategies.

“Since its release in 2015, the M7001 Series, which comprises the first large tractors from Kubota, has seen steady growth in sales. We often hear our users say that the M7001 Series is simple and easy to use, and offers high operational efficiency. They also say they like its good compatibility with implements and its excellent operability.”

Their approach to the smart farming market in Europe has already begun with the “M7001 Series tractors + implements” combination. It is equipped with a section control function for prevention of double spraying, a variable rate control function for determining the amount of fertilizers and other materials being fed depending on the soil conditions, as well as an auto-steering function for automatic operation. All of this has been made possible through ISOBUSenabled data communication between tractors and implements.

“Emphasizing Kubota's originality is important,” says Andreas Kaczmarczyk, Marketing Manager of the EU Agricultural Business Unit. “Whether it be in upland farming or precision farming, Kubota is a newcomer in the European market,” he noted. “So, the crucial question is, how we can distinguish ourselves from the other players who arrived before us? Our approach to this involves helping our customers to resolve their problems by offering a ‘Kubota Farm Solution' package, which includes a tractor, implements, applications, and service contracts. The important thing here is to understand what customers need and deliver what they want. They wish to know how much benefit they can expect from smart farming. In other words, our customers are interested in the outcomes of technology, rather than the technology itself. ‘Go to Market' is our slogan for this initiative. We hope to satisfy customer needs by living up to the ‘Priority Onsite' principle.”

As a liaison between Kubota and KVG, François Julienne is taking the lead in promoting smart farming. He is a former KVG employee who became involved early on in the smart farming business of tractors + implements.

“Precision farming and smart farming not only reduce the costs of farm operations, but benefit farmers, since they no longer have to depend on their own experience and intuition,” he said. “As such, I believe that the introduction of smart farming will be accelerated. For Kubota to be chosen by customers as each player competes in terms of product development, we must definitely enhance ease of operation and comfort for operators who are on the frontline of smart farming, and improve the level of process automation. What we want to achieve are total solutions that customers find reasonable and easy to use. We will pursue simple yet unique solutions going forward.”