How large international agricultural companies strategically manage their operations and what challenges they face was the topic of discussion at “Farm Forward 2035 – Visions of Smart Efficiency from Three Continents” on the DLG-Expert Stage „Smart Efficiency“ at Agritechnica 2025. Moderator and DLG board member Dr. Anna Catharina Voges spoke with three managers from leading companies about their visions: Nick Paterson (Excel Farms, Australia, 80,000 ha), Maxim Bozhko (Shanyrak Management Company, Kazakhstan, 36,000 ha), and Jason Friesen (G&B Friesen Farms and Resilire Ag, Canada, 10,000 ha).
The agricultural entrepreneurs began by briefly introducing their respective businesses: Australian Nick Paterson is Managing Director and a member of the management board of Excel Farms, an agricultural company with seven locations, four of which are on the east coast (in the provinces of Victoria and New South Wales), one in the province of South Australia, and two in Western Australia. The company mainly grows crops, but its portfolio also includes lamb trading and lamb meat and merino wool production.
Maxim Bozhko from Kazakhstan is mainly involved in the production of eggs and chicken meat, with the chicken manure being used to produce organic fertilizer in-house. In addition to the usual crops, they grow chickpeas and sunflowers; everything that comes from the fields is mainly used for poultry feed. Of the more than 20 million hectares of agricultural land in Kazakhstan, Bozhko's company cultivates a total of 36,000 hectares.
Jason Friesen, Canada, took over the farm together with his brother; at that time, their parents farmed between 600 and 800 hectares. Today, wheat, barley, rapeseed, peas, and lentils are grown on 10,000 hectares.
Challenges: From labor to weather fluctuations
The challenges are manifold: Friesen reported extreme weather fluctuations in Saskatchewan – “one day plus 15 °C, the next minus 10 °C.” Paterson is struggling with historically low rainfall, while Bozhko is burdened by high logistics costs: “We are dependent on land transport because we have no coastline. That's why we use most of our crops to feed our laying hens and broilers.”
„The steady increase in technology is making agriculture more interesting for young people again.“
There was agreement on the biggest challenges for the coming years: “Finding good employees remains one of the most central challenges,” said the experts. At the same time, they see opportunities in digitalization: “The steady increase in technology is making agriculture more interesting for young people again,” emphasized the managers. Digital systems also help to make processes more efficient and optimize the use of labor.
Digitalization in small steps
The implementation of digital solutions was a continuous process in all three companies. Paterson has now digitalized many processes, such as the direct uploads of all grain weights or the previous day's harvest quantities, which are uploaded directly to the cloud. “We find digital technologies extremely helpful for managing our farm. The next step is to record and analyze the efficiency of our tractors using digital assistance systems: Which driver consumes the most fuel and why? Which driving style saves fuel and protects the machine? The work processes will then be adjusted accordingly,” explained Paterson. For Friesen, it was automatic steering 25 years ago that marked the start of the digitalization of his farm, and “now I'm looking forward to the days when I only have to set up the machine and it does the work on its own.”
Drones: Pipe dream or everyday reality?
Drones are also used in all types of businesses, but the conditions vary greatly: “I already use drones to fertilize our sheep pastures,” explained Paterson. In Australia, he needs online accreditation to use them; in Canada, a license is also required, but “there are still major problems with reliability, and if something happens, liability insurance does not yet cover it,” Friesen explained. In Kazakhstan, only registration of the drones is required: “I have our fields fertilized by various companies using drones,” reported Bozhko. However, everyone agreed that drone technology is still in its infancy and there is still a lot of potential for development. The vision for 2035: “Much more autonomous machines and more efficient decisions thanks to improved software,” Nick Paterson, Maxim Bozhko, and Jason Friesen agreed.
„I know we need to address our carbon emissions and reduce them urgently"
Nick Paterson
The question about CO2 emissions and their relevance in Australia, Kazakhstan, and Canada came from the audience. It quickly became clear that none of the three countries has regulations as strict as those in Germany or the EU: "I know that we need to address our carbon emissions and reduce them urgently. We are already making many small adjustments and are in the process of determining our emissions so that we can actively work to reduce them,“ explained Paterson, and his Canadian and Kazakh colleagues agreed: ”We don't have any government regulations in this regard, but we are striving to reduce fuel consumption and soil cultivation.”
Highlight: The diversity of innovations
What highlights are the agricultural entrepreneurs taking home from Agritechnica? Friesen and Bozhko were impressed by the innovative solutions for weed control using lasers or ultrasound. For Paterson, it was his first visit to the world's leading trade fair for agricultural technology: “I am totally overwhelmed; for me, it's all the small technologies away from the big players that really impressed me.”
