Top CNH Dealers Named as NZ Firms Shine in Awards
The most outstanding CNH dealers from across Australia and New Zealand for the past year have been revealed, with two New Zealand dealerships amongst the major winners.
Case New Holland Industrial (CNHI) – parent company of the New Holland, Case IH and Steyr brands – has announced it is to buy out Raven Industries in the US.
The deal said to be worth $2.1 billion, with projected annual earnings by the new subsidiary of €400 million by 2025.
Besides agricultural technology – the key driver for the CNHI acquisition – Raven also operates in the polymer film engineering sector, delivering waterproof membranes and liners for construction and agriculture. It also manufactures lighter-than-air platforms such as weather balloons. The latter might give a hint towards CNHI’s plans, with the increasing importance of aerial imagery coming to the forefront in the crop management sector.
Within the agricultural sector, Raven is well known, particularly in North America and Europe, for providing field computers, steering, guidance and height control products. It also produces flow control valves for directing chemical injection into sprayer lines, as an alternative to the more traditional method of relying on pre-prepared tank mixes.
Raven is also well established within the autonomous guidance sector with its ‘OMNiDRIVE’ and ‘OMNiPOWER’ products.
The former replaces the driver in a conventional tractor – making it suitable, according to Raven, for applications like calling up chaser bins to unload combine harvesters, before taking the load back to a predetermined parking area.
OMNiPOWER takes the form of a robot, without the need for an operator. It is described by the company as “a self-propelled power platform that can accept a range of implements like sprayers or spreaders, allowing it to perform multiple tasks during the farming seasons”.
Meanwhile, the deal will require regulatory approval before it is completed, with finalisation expected by the year end.
From last week, the Industrial Hemp Regulations 2006 have been revoked.
The Rural Support Trust is hosting a series of community wellbeing events featuring former NZSAS soldier and Victoria Cross recipient Willie Apiata.
Government plans to reduce the regulations relating to drones that farmers use on their own properties has drawn a mixed reaction from commercial drone operators.
Families farming the same land for generations, including one spanning 187 years, were recognised at the 2026 Century Farms and Station Awards held in Lawrence, Otago recently.
Cambridge and surrounding communities are benefiting from a new emergency ambulance, thanks to joint funding from longstanding supporters, Grassroots Trust Limited and Greenlea Foundation Trust.
Safer Farms ambassador Lindy Nelson's dedication to "rethinking how the primary sector works together to reduce harm on farm" has been recognised with a finalist place in the New Zealand Workplace Health and Safety Awards for 2026.