Lemken has announced that the company is exiting the sprayer business.
The company says it plans to “strengthen its mechanical weed control, plus selective crop care business” instead.
Lemken’s sprayer line-up was never sold in North America, but it does indicate the direction that some manufacturers may take due to the increased appetite for mechanical and robotic weed control in Europe.
“After over 10 years operating in this segment, we have not reached a market-relevant size. The legal requirements in each of our markets are increasing and becoming more and more disparate. This means that there is no single Lemken field spraying standard that can meet our quality standards and the variety of customer preferences, with which we could achieve a satisfactory production run,” says CEO Anthony van der Ley. “We are also seeing that, even from a consumer standpoint, the boundaries for chemical crop care products are becoming ever higher. Although we introduced several future-focused new models at the last Agritechnica, and our team is extremely motivated by the great reception, we are choosing this moment to break from our field spraying range in a responsible manner.”
Lemken acquired the Dutch hoeing technology specialist Steketee two years ago, to combine mechanical weed control with precise, selective band spraying or spot spraying.
At Agritechnica 2019, Lemken released the prototype of its first self propelled sprayer ever in the market. The Nova was the first Lemken implement to have a steering wheel.
