U.S. manufacturer Agco targets fuel efficiency in Fendt, Massey Ferguson and Valtra tractor brands

U.S. farm machinery giant Agco says three tractor brands in its portfolio are cumulatively seeing 10 per cent efficiency gains thanks to fuel-saving tech.

The company’s Fendt, Massey Ferguson and Valtra brands have been updated with engine developments and powertrain solutions, reads a June news release from Agco. These upgrades mean lower fuel costs for farmers, it says, without sacrificing performance and reliability.

Why it Matters: Canada’s 2030 Emission Reductions Plan calls for emission reductions of 40 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. In response, companies like Agco are attempting to build fuel-efficient machinery that does not compromise the horsepower many farmers need.

Although all three brands have new, unique features, the centerpiece is the Agco Power Core engine, Kari Aaltonen, director for engineering with Agco Power, said in an email.

“The Core platform delivers excellent responsiveness and high torque. It also offers best-in-class fuel efficiency at low engine speeds.”

Aaltonen says the developments were made to lower farmer operating costs, reduce environmental impact, satisfy projected regulations and requirements and enhance practical efficiency on farms.

“It has been designed from the ground up to meet the latest emission standards and future fuel requirements,” he wrote.

“We expect that in the future, agricultural machinery will also be subject to limits on carbon dioxide emissions, in addition to the existing limits on nitrogen oxides and particulate matter.

“That is why we are already developing engines with lower fuel consumption while also ensuring they meet the stricter emission requirements of the future.”

One of the upgrades in the Power Core platform is a more efficient combustion process, said Aaltonen. Agco Power, the company division that designs and manufactures engines and related systems, optimized the platform’s cylinder head design, fuel injection system and turbocharger.

“Thanks to this optimization, Core engines consume up to around 10 per cent less fuel than the engines they replace,” he said.

“Development work continues. The goal is to further improve fuel efficiency, and an additional improvement of approximately five to 10 per cent is considered achievable in the future.”

The Power Core platform is included in several of Fendt’s Vario series tractors, says the company. These include the Core50 in the Fendt 600 Vario series and the Core75 in the Fendt 700 Vario Gen7 series.

Independent testing of the latter series, which sports a continously variable transmission (CVT), demonstrated strong fuel efficiency across both field and transport applications, says the company.

CVT transmissions play an important role in reducing fuel consumption, said Aaltonen.

“Its key advantage is that it can continuously adjust the engine’s operation to match each driving situation. In practice, this means the engine can always run in its most efficient range, exactly where fuel consumption is lowest.”

Agco Power engines are also used in the current Massey Ferguson product lineup.

The company says the Massey Ferguson 8S.265 Xtra Dyna E-Power placed first overall for fieldwork in its DLG PowerMix category. DLG PowerMix testing is an independent testing method used to measure a tractor’s fuel consumption when performing various tasks.

“The tests simulate typical agricultural work such as ploughing, seeding, transport and hydraulic operations,” said Aaltonen.

Agco Power engines have long been a mainstay across Valtra’s tractor lineup.

Valtra’s EcoPower operating philosophy is based on maintaining high torque at lower engine speeds. This supports lower fuel consumption across typical field and transport applications, as revealed in DLG PowerMix results and other independent comparison testing cited by Valtra.

Valtra tractors also employ a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system that is said to enable efficient combustion, improving fuel consumption when compared to previous engine generations.

Fuel efficiency will continue to be a principle guiding the engineering of tractor brands under the Agco umbrella, says Aaltonen.

“The goal is to maximize the benefit from every unit of energy used, regardless of the energy source.

“The importance of fuel efficiency is not diminishing. On the contrary, it is a central element of efficient, sustainable and future-proof agricultural machinery development across Agco’s brands.”