A week after appearing at the 2026 Farm Progress Show, AGCO’s President, CEO, and Chairman, Eric Hansotia, expanded on the company’s growth strategy and overall market outlook, reporting higher farmer sentiment among attendees of the annual farm show, during a session at Citi’s Global TMT Conference on Sept. 9.
Speaking with AgNavigator at the Farm Progress Show, Hansotia, outlined the ag machinery manufacturer’s growth strategy amid a down-market cycle, including investments in technology and dealer relationships. Additionally, AGCO revealed machines at the show and debuted some of its equipment for the first time in North America.
Farmers responded positively to AGCO’s Farm Progress Show presence, even ordering machines at the event, Hansotia said at the Citi conference.
“Two years ago, we had maybe 40 farmers that came to a pre-launch. This year, we had over 300 and closed a lot of deals right at the show, which is very unusual. Usually, we don’t do that. So, there was a lot of upbeat sentiment by farmers directly, and then dealers starting to talk about planning for growth,” Hansotia elaborated.
He added, “We’ve been really managing down inventory. That’s been the whole conversation over the last two or three years. Now, we’re talking about how do we make sure we’re ready for growth? So, sentiment in North America is probably the brightest of any of the markets right now.”
Farmer sentiment is on the rise in part due to higher grain prices, Hansotia noted. Corn futures are up nearly 27.58% in the last year, with soybean futures up a similar 28.80%, according to Google Finance data.
“There’s an equation out there where farmers have to grow a lot more grain. ... There’s a lot more demand for biofuels, which is the second demand generator. The third is as [people] eat more and more meat, it’s a multiplier for grain,” Hansotia said.
He added, “So, we have to generate a lot more output. The inputs are all being managed tightly. So, farmers want to use less fertilizers — especially now with fertilizer prices going up — less diesel, less herbicide, all of the inputs. So, the only way to make that equation work is technology.”
AGCO accelerates precision ag, digital offerings with M&A strategy
During the AGCO’s Citi session, newly appointed CFO and Senior VP, Indira Agarwal, spoke about the company’s merger and acquisition strategy and its approach to capital allocation.
“When we think about M&A, I would say we have a bias in pursuing technology opportunities that help us either accelerate the precision ag roadmap or strengthen our data and our software layer,” Agarwal said.
She added, “We’ve always had a very balanced capital allocation structure where we invest in our business. We protect our engineering investments. We maintain an investment-grade balance sheet, and we pursue targeted technology capability and opportunities, and we return capital to shareholders.”
