Brussels, 5th March 2010 – The European manufacturers of equipment for tillage, sowing, fertilizing, and plant protection can report a slight increase in orders received after a heavy decline in 2009. This was the general consensus at the annual meeting of the product groups for arable equipment within CEMA, the European association of the agricultural machinery industry, which took place on 23 and 24th February 2010 at John Deere in Horst (Netherlands). It was stated that “even though the orders for the coming season had come very late the number went up again in the past months“, said Gerd Wiesendorfer, CEMA coordinator for these product groups. However, the further cuts in delivery times demanded by dealers and farmers are considered problematic...

The first collection of CEMA Positions on European legislative challenges for the agricultural machinery industry

CEMA is preparing a dedicated webpage on its CEMA website for whole body vibrations. This would support industry willing to provide more information to their customers, by referring to this webpage using the address: www.cema-wbv.eu

Dear CEMA colleagues and friends, I’d like to warmly thank all of you who attended our common summit with CECE in Brussels, last October 14th-16th. This venue was a real momentum for our industry. All key-players showed commitment and interest. We had great presentations both on economic and technical matters.

The General Assembly of CEMA on 16 October 2009 elected a new Board and Presidency for the upcoming two years. Following Federico Corradini, whose term as first President of the new CEMA ended after two years, Gilles Dryancour was elected President of CEMA.

Presentations & reports for the 15 04 2010 meeting

Will electronic and electrical parts of agricultural equipment be subject of recycling schemes? Will certain substances being banned for the electronic parts? CEMA-CECE lobby actions pay off with an exclusion of our machines in the WEEE proposal from European Parliament on 22 June 2010. And the process continues…

Dear members and friends of CEMA, I would like to thank all of you who, last week, joined the CEMA delegation to the European Parliament in Strasburg. From the feedback we have already got, this visit was a real achievement both in terms of attendance and content. Therefore, I’d like to share with our colleagues what we learned from this trip.

A European expert group on the SUD (sustainable use directive 2009/128/EC) met on 14 June 2010 for the first time. CEMA was present.

It is the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food safety. Consisting of 68 Members of the European Parliament (EP) from the different political groups. It is served by a secretariat of 10 administrators.

The European Employee Networking Agricultural Machinery is a EU-funded project to better connect European workers within the agricultural machinery industry. The European Metal Workers Federation (EMF) at the end of phase 2 of the project organized a workshop about the future of the industry. CEMA Secretary General Ralf Wezel contributed together with a representative of DG Enterprise to the discussion on 11 June 2010.

Around 100 participants from farmers unions, European institutions and farm input suppliers participated in this new initiative of COPA. CEMA like the European Crop Protection Association, Fertlizers Europe, FEFAC (industrial compound feed) or the Co-operative banks association were among the presenters.

The European Parliament (EP) on 15 June adopted within its Agricultural Committee a report on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) after 2013. The Committee requests to maintain the funding of CAP at least on the existing level. It also states that there should not be a renationalization of the agricultural policy.

The French member association AXEMA has informed that Alain Savary will lead the team of 15 staff members working in the Paris office of Axema. He has a degree as agricultural engineer and 20 years of experience in the agricultural sector. As director of the French association he is a member of CEMA’s group of Secretaries General.

After 6 months of steady improvement the CEMA Business Climate Index dropped in June 2010 again. Both, the evaluation of the current situation as well as the expectations about the future, were more negative than in May. One reason was the dramatic drop of the incoming orders from France.

After 6 months of steady improvement the CEMA Business Climate Index dropped in June 2010 again. Both, the evaluation of the current situation as well as the expectations about the future, were more negative than in May. One reason was the dramatic drop of the incoming orders from France.

With the exception of Switzerland and Portugal all tractor markets in Europe were at least 10% below the first three months of the previous year. Especially on the three biggest national markets, France, Italy and Germany, farmers registered clearly less tractors according to the data provided by the CEMA Statistical Group. This means that after a decrease of 14% for the calendar year 2009 the downward trend continues at least for the first half of this year.

The proposal is ready for sending to Council and Parliament. CEMA had several discussions with the European Commission in the past with mixed success. Some hurdles remain and will be hard to take.

The proposal is ready for sending to Council and Parliament. CEMA had several discussions with the European Commission in the past with mixed success. Some hurdles remain and will be hard to take.

What will the future bring? A guide for sprayers under the Machinery Directive, European sprayer inspection schemes and National Action Plans by member states on the sustainable use of pesticides. CEMA will produce one European industry position...

What will the future bring? A guide for sprayers under the Machinery Directive, European sprayer inspection schemes and National Action Plans by member states on the sustainable use of pesticides. CEMA will produce one European industry position...

Dear members and friends of CEMA, I would like to thank all of you who, last week, joined the CEMA delegation to the European Parliament in Strasburg. From the feedback we have already got, this visit was a real achievement both in terms of attendance and content. Therefore, I’d like to share with our colleagues what we learned from this trip.

The Business Climate Index is rising steadily after reaching the bottom of the cycle end of 2010 – however, the rise is mainly a result of hopes for a better future and not really a result of an improved actual situation. Regarding incoming orders there was no improvement in April compared to the previous month. Within Europe incoming orders from France in April were still considerably lower than the previous year, while the orders from the German and Italian market stabilized.

The Business Climate Index is rising steadily after reaching the bottom of the cycle end of 2010 – however, the rise is mainly a result of hopes for a better future and not really a result of an improved actual situation. Regarding incoming orders there was no improvement in April compared to the previous month. Within Europe incoming orders from France in April were still considerably lower than the previous year, while the orders from the German and Italian market stabilized.

EU agriculture commissioner Dacian Ciolos (DG agriculture) launched on 12 April a public debate on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy. And limiting the payments to some of Europe’s largest farmers, a topic wiped off the table in 2007, is back.