Summary of Work in China's Agricultural Machinery Industry in 2024

2024 is a year full of challenges and opportunities for China's agricultural machinery industry. During this year, we witnessed multiple breakthroughs in innovative technologies, the emergence of new products, and the transformation of the agricultural machinery market. As a practitioner in the agricultural machinery industry, looking back on this year's journey, one cannot help but feel deeply moved.

Innovation and Breakthrough in Agricultural Machinery Technology

1. Innovative achievements in the field of tractors

In 2024, significant innovative achievements were made in the field of tractors in China. The Dongfanghong 450 horsepower continuously variable transmission wheel tractor launched by China Yituo, a subsidiary of China National Machinery Industry Corporation, has become the largest domestically produced continuously variable transmission tractor. This tractor abandons the traditional mechanical shifting method, allowing the operator to simply step on the accelerator and the system to automatically match the best performance, greatly reducing labor intensity. This technological breakthrough not only improves the convenience of tractor operation, but also represents an important direction for the current development of tractor technology. In addition, China Yituo has delivered the first batch of 40 Dongfanghong MH804M hilly and mountainous tractors to 22 county agricultural machinery centers in Gansu Province, promoting the development of agricultural mechanization in hilly and mountainous areas.

2. Innovation of large-scale grain combine harvesters

In the harvesting process, the Lovol Valley God GS8180 harvester became a major highlight. This harvester has the largest feeding capacity in China, with a feeding rate of over 18 kilograms per second and the ability to harvest over 50 acres of wheat per hour. It can not only be matched with different cutting platforms to achieve "one machine harvesting" of multiple crops such as corn, wheat, soybeans, etc., but also greatly improve the harvesting efficiency of crops.

3. Innovation of characteristic crop harvesters

In the field of specialty crop harvesters, Tiejian Heavy Industry has launched a new self-propelled fresh food (seed) corn harvester. Due to the high moisture content of fresh corn ears, traditional corn harvesters are prone to crushing the ears during operation, causing skin damage and affecting quality. The harvester from Tiejian Heavy Industry adopts a flexible cutting platform design, which can reduce the total loss rate of harvesting to less than 3%. In addition, domestic tomato harvesters have also achieved breakthroughs, providing the possibility for mechanized harvesting in the tomato planting industry, which helps to improve the efficiency of tomato harvesting and reduce labor costs.

4. Innovation and export of cotton picking machines

Cotton picker is one of the equipment with high "gold content" in the field of agricultural machinery. In recent years, the market share of domestic cotton picking machines has gradually increased. Taking the Boshiran brand six row self-propelled round bundle cotton picking machine as an example, it integrates functions such as picking, compression, and packaging. One machine can withstand the manual picking of 1500 people and is about 3 million yuan cheaper than imported products from abroad. In terms of net collection rate and intelligence, domestic cotton picking machines continue to surpass foreign brands, achieving a transition from "following" to "running in parallel". In 2024, more than 300 domestically produced cotton picking machines were exported to Uzbekistan, marking the beginning of China's competitiveness in the international market.

5. The rise of new agricultural machinery and equipment

In addition to traditional agricultural machinery enterprises, new industries such as agricultural drones, agricultural Beidou terminals and assisted driving systems, grain and tea color sorting machines are also emerging in 2024. These new types of agricultural machinery and equipment not only improve the efficiency of agricultural production, but also promote the diversified development of the agricultural machinery industry.

6. Breakthroughs in agricultural machinery and equipment in hilly and mountainous areas

In hilly and mountainous areas, some key fields have begun to make a leap from "inorganic usability" to "good machine usability". For example, mountain rail transport aircraft have been widely used in fruit (tea) gardens in Hubei, Chongqing, Zhejiang and other places, with a total of nearly 50000 sets in stock. In addition, the pneumatic electric drive high-speed precision seeder and 400 horsepower green feed harvester have achieved industrial application, and the rapeseed transplanter, strip composite planting special seeder, soybean special cutting table, etc. have also achieved mass production. These achievements will help fill the gaps in agricultural machinery and equipment in hilly and mountainous areas, and improve the level of agricultural mechanization in these areas.

7. Breakthrough in Intelligent Agricultural Machinery Equipment

Weichai Lovol Smart Agriculture has broken through key technologies such as intelligent driving based on Beidou navigation, efficient and low loss harvesting with large feeding volume in 2024, and successfully achieved commercial application. This achievement reflects the improvement of large-scale agricultural machinery and equipment technology in terms of intelligence and adaptability, which helps to improve agricultural production efficiency.

8. Innovation of New Energy Pure Electric Tractors

Zoomlion's new energy pure electric tractor has been selected as a major scientific and technological new achievement in China's agriculture and rural areas in 2024. This tractor is a 50 horsepower pure electric tractor with international advanced level, designed for modern facility greenhouse application scenarios at home and abroad. It focuses on tackling scientific research difficulties such as the application of new energy electric drive and the development of intelligent kits, electrification of powertrain, independent driving of walking and operating systems, and integrated design of reducer and transfer case. It is the first facility gardening electric tractor in China to enter substantial promotion. The emergence of this tractor has broken the technological monopoly of foreign products in this field and promoted the transformation and upgrading of China's agricultural machinery and equipment towards "green, intelligent, and digital".

Academic research and application of agricultural machinery

1. Development of cabbage combine harvester

The "Cabbage Joint Harvester" developed by the Nanjing Agricultural Mechanization Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences has been successfully selected as a major new equipment for agriculture and rural areas in China in 2024. This machine can efficiently harvest, transport, and collect cabbage, significantly reducing labor costs and improving production efficiency. Cabbage can be planted in different regions of China in all seasons, including spring, summer, autumn, and winter, with a planting area of 14 million acres. The successful development of the cabbage combine harvester has solved the problems of relying on manual labor, low efficiency, and high labor intensity in cabbage harvesting.

2. Breakthroughs in intelligent agricultural equipment and technology

The Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences has conducted extensive research in intelligent agricultural equipment, precision agriculture technology, agricultural robots, and has achieved a series of breakthroughs. These achievements have not only been widely applied domestically, but also had a positive impact internationally, making important contributions to the sustainable development of Chinese agriculture.

3. Evaluation of Innovation Capability of Agricultural Machinery Enterprises

The "2024 China Agricultural Machinery Enterprise Innovation Capability Evaluation Report" released on April 28, 2024 shows that Weichai Lovol's comprehensive score for smart agriculture is 82.62 points, ranking first; Yituo, DJI, China Agricultural Mechanization Research Institute, Wode, Zhonglian and other enterprises rank 2-10 respectively. This achievement reflects the ability and achievements of various enterprises in agricultural machinery innovation, and reflects the competitive situation and innovation level of different enterprises in the industry.

4. Improvement of conditions for agricultural mechanization development in hilly and mountainous areas

In 2024, the conditions for the development of agricultural machinery in hilly and mountainous areas are gradually improving. Firstly, the number of people returning to their hometowns to start businesses is gradually increasing, becoming key talents in promoting agricultural mechanization; The second is to focus on promoting the Ten Million Project by 2024, providing financial support for agricultural mechanization in these regions; Thirdly, the government will increase support for one large and one small agricultural machinery, and support small agricultural machinery suitable for hilly and mountainous areas; Fourthly, there is a continuous increase in agricultural machinery products such as mountain tractors suitable for operations in hilly and mountainous areas, and the level of intelligence is constantly improving. This series of achievements has brought hope and opportunities for the development of agricultural mechanization in hilly and mountainous areas.

5. Breakthrough in Healthy and Efficient Dairy Farming Technology

At the 2024 Annual Meeting of the Chinese Agricultural Society and the China Modern Agriculture Development Forum, "Key Technologies and Applications for Improving the Health and Efficiency of Dairy Cattle Breeding with Natural Active Substances" was selected as a major new technology for agriculture and rural areas in China in 2024. This technology takes improving the immune system of dairy cows as the starting point, constructs a healthy dairy farming theory based on natural active substances, breaks through the technical bottleneck of the application of natural active substances, creates a series of omics new products, and achieves a major breakthrough in key technologies for healthy and efficient dairy farming. Although this achievement is mainly aimed at dairy farming, it may involve some research on the application scenarios of mechanization in the breeding process, such as the combination of feed feeding machinery, dairy cow health monitoring equipment, and mechanization.

6. The linkage between large-scale agricultural machinery and intelligent systems

In 2024, large-scale agricultural machinery and smart systems have achieved linkage. The smart agriculture control platform can directly provide information such as operating area, driving speed, and agricultural machinery status, and can also analyze the operation situation in real time, covering the entire process of cultivation, management, and harvesting. This achievement reflects the development of agricultural mechanization research in the direction of intelligence and informatization, making agricultural machinery operation and management more precise and efficient.

7. Interdisciplinary integration promotes the development of agricultural mechanization

At present, the field of agricultural mechanization research focuses on interdisciplinary integration. For example, backbone enterprises in advanced manufacturing fields such as Beidou Navigation, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things actively participate in agricultural machinery research and development innovation. This achievement helps inject new quality productivity into the agricultural machinery industry and promote the development of agricultural mechanization towards high-end, intelligent, and green directions.

Changes and Trends in the Agricultural Machinery Market

1. Decline in agricultural machinery sales and growth of leading enterprises

In 2024, the overall sales volume of the agricultural machinery industry further declined compared to the previous year, with approximately 2.65 million sets of various types of agricultural machinery sold throughout the year, a year-on-year decrease of 13%. However, the sales of leading companies such as China Yituo, Weichai Lovol, and Jiangsu Wode have continued to grow, and their market share has steadily increased. Taking China Yituo as an example, its revenue for the first three quarters of 2024 was 10.736 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.78%; The net profit was 1.101 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1.45%.

2. Changes in the tractor market

The total sales volume of tractors with subsidy records in 2024 is about 240000 units, a year-on-year decrease of 10%. In terms of production, a total of 415677 tractors were produced from January to September, a year-on-year decrease of 8.1%. Among them, the production of large tractors was 97159 units, a year-on-year increase of 6.3%; The cumulative production of medium-sized tractors was 196518 units, a year-on-year decrease of 13.2%; The cumulative production of small tractors was 122000 units, a year-on-year decrease of 14.4%. It is expected that there will be significant changes in the structure of tractor products, with sales of large tractors of 100 horsepower and above increasing year by year; Products in the 50-60 horsepower range are showing a growth trend and may gradually replace the 70-80 horsepower range as the main consumer force in the tractor market in the future; Power shift products may become the main force to replace the existing market in the future.

3. The wheat harvester market is recovering

The sales volume of wheat harvesters in 2024 is about 20000 units, a year-on-year increase of 20%. At present, the mechanization rate of wheat harvesting in China is close to 99%, and the inventory is increasing year by year, entering the stage of competition in the stock market. The wheat harvester market is mainly driven by stock updates, with Weichai Lovol, Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology, and Wode Agricultural Machinery occupying the main market share.

4. The growth of the agricultural machinery export market

In 2024, China's agricultural machinery export market will experience rapid growth. In the first quarter, 15000 tractors were exported, a year-on-year increase of 11.2%; More than 2100 harvesters were exported, a year-on-year increase of 26.6%. Among them, the holding of the China Central Asia Summit has had a positive impact on the export of agricultural machinery to the Central Asian market. Taking Boshiran Company as an example, more than 300 cotton picking machines produced by it have been exported to Uzbekistan and a supply contract for 600 cotton picking machines has been signed with Kazakhstan.

5. The rise of the agricultural machinery service market

With the transformation of the agricultural machinery market, the agricultural machinery service market is gradually emerging. Some agricultural machinery cooperatives and large-scale farmers have begun to provide professional agricultural machinery operation services, such as plowing, sowing, harvesting, etc. These services not only improve the efficiency of agricultural production, but also provide farmers with more employment opportunities and sources of income.

Agricultural Machinery Policies and Regulations

1. Adjustment of agricultural machinery purchase subsidy policy

In 2024, the government adjusted the subsidy policy for agricultural machinery purchase. On the one hand, the standards and scope of subsidies have been raised, and the subsidy intensity for new agricultural machinery and equipment has been increased; On the other hand, the supervision and evaluation of the effectiveness of subsidy funds have been strengthened to ensure that subsidy policies can truly benefit farmers and agricultural machinery enterprises.

2. Implementation of subsidy policy for scrapping and updating agricultural machinery

In order to promote the scrapping and updating of old agricultural machinery, the country has implemented a subsidy policy for scrapping and updating agricultural machinery. This policy encourages farmers to eliminate old, high-energy consuming, and inefficient agricultural machinery and purchase new, efficient, and environmentally friendly agricultural equipment. At the same time, the government also provides corresponding scrap subsidies and renewal subsidies, reducing the economic burden on farmers.

3. Improvement of Agricultural Machinery Safety Supervision Regulations

In order to strengthen the supervision of agricultural machinery safety, the country has improved relevant regulations and policies. On the one hand, the training and management of agricultural machinery drivers have been strengthened, improving their safety awareness and operational skills; On the other hand, the investigation and prevention of agricultural machinery accidents have been strengthened, ensuring the safety and stability of agricultural production.

Outlook and Expectations

Looking back at 2024, China's agricultural machinery industry has made significant progress and achievements. However, we must also be aware that the agricultural machinery industry still faces many challenges and problems. For example, the technological level and innovation capability of agricultural machinery and equipment still need to be improved; The competition in the agricultural machinery market is becoming increasingly fierce, requiring enterprises to continuously enhance their core competitiveness and brand influence; The agricultural machinery service market still needs further regulation and improvement.

Looking ahead to the future, we are full of expectations and confidence in the development of China's agricultural machinery industry. We believe that with the joint efforts of the government, enterprises, research institutions, and farmers, the Chinese agricultural machinery industry will surely usher in a better tomorrow. We will continue to strive for innovation and progress in agricultural machinery technology, and improve the intelligence and automation level of agricultural machinery equipment; Strengthen the supervision and standardization of the agricultural machinery market to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of farmers and agricultural machinery enterprises; Promote the healthy development of the agricultural machinery service market and provide higher quality and efficient services for agricultural production.

In short, 2024 is a year full of challenges and opportunities for China's agricultural machinery industry. We have witnessed breakthroughs in multiple innovative technologies and the emergence of new products, as well as the changes and development trends in the agricultural machinery market. In the days to come, we will continue to work together to promote the sustained and healthy development of China's agricultural machinery industry!

Author: My Farm

Source: Agricultural Machinery News Network