Kuhn Group Sales Dip 9% in 2025 but Orders Signal Recovery
Kuhn Group recorded net sales of NZ$2.27 billion in 2025, finishing around 9% lower than in 2024.
Purpose-made swathers are coming to the fore.
Kuhn NZ has this year been showing its Merge Maxx 950 belt merger that uses twin pick-ups and belt conveyors to form the required swath.
And now the Dutch company Ploeger, with an eye on contractors, has developed a self-propelled swather, the CM4240 Merger, due for launching at Agritechnica in November.
It will have a working width adjustable between 10 and 12m, and pick-up technology from Reiter, well known in Europe for its front- and rear-mounted mergers/swath formers.
Several Ploeger designs are seen in the machines, including a side-shift function that allows push-button changes from central to side-delivery configurations.
Ploeger says the front positioning of the pick-up heads helps provide exceptional visibility and prevents the machine having to run on the crop, so avoiding crop contamination.
Power is delivered by a 260hp FPT, 6-cylinder engine said to be capable of pushing the machine to operating speeds of up to 20km/h.
Dougal Morrison has been elected as the new President of the New Zealand Farm Forestry Association (NZFFA).
Perrin Ag has appointed Vicky Ferris as its new Hawke's Bay consultant.
The New Zealand National Fieldays Society is encouraging teachers to register school groups for the 2026 National Fieldays, set to be held at Mystery Creek Events Centre from 10-13 June.
The appointment of Richard Allen as Fonterra's new chief executive signals execution, not strategy, according to agribusiness expert Dr Nic Lees.
Potatoes New Zealand has become much more than a grower body, according to Pukekohe grower Bharat Bhana.
The country's kiwifruit growers seem to have escaped much of the predicted wrath of Cyclone Vaianu which hit the east coast of the North Island this month.
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