Heinrich Dreyer established H. Dreyer Factory for Agricultural Machinery and Equipment in Gaste, near Osnabrück on the 1st of May 1883. 140 years later, the family-owned company is one of the leading machinery manufacturers in the world.
A success story
Production started with a grain cleaning machine but Mr Dreyer realised quickly that the export market would offer great opportunities. The first machines were exported to Chile as early as 1906.
Since the beginning, Mr Dreyer’s sons, grandsons and great-grandsons have continued the business, setting milestones for product development. In the 1960s, the ZA mounted twin-disc fertiliser spreader and D4 seed drill were introduced, becoming best sellers for the company.
As the company became increasingly successful, the production facilities were expanded. The first branch was established in Hude, near Oldenburg, and in 2009 this was expanded to become the Hude-Altmoorhausen facility for the production of high-performance seeding systems.
The company was reportedly the first to develop PTO-driven equipment to work in combination with seed drills. Since 1998, passive tillage equipment has been brought to market with the subsidiary BBG in Leipzig.
Expansion has continued with the 2016 takeover of Vogel & Noot, in Mosonmagyaróvár, Hungary, while new production facilities in Bramsche, north of Osnabrück, were opened in 2018. In 2019, Amazone added the Schmotzer Hacktechnik company to its portfolio, offering mechanical weeding systems within its product range.
Bringing the past and future together
The core markets for Amazone are active and passive tillage, seed drills and precision seeders, fertiliser spreaders and sprayers. There is also a strong market in groundcare equipment and winter gritting machinery.
In 2022, the Group comprised of nine production facilities and employed more than 2,000 people, with exports making up 80% of the turnover. Its headquarters remain in Gaste and Amazone is wholly owned by the Dreyer family to this day.
For more than 50 years, the company was controlled by Prof. h.c. Dr Dr h.c. Heinz Dreyer (died 17th February 2023) and his cousin Klaus Dreyer, with responsibility now with the fourth generation, Christian Dreyer and Dr Justus Dreyer.
“We intend to continue the ground-breaking success across the history of our company so that farming worldwide can rely on our innovative solutions for intelligent crop production,” said the two owners.
“We extend our heartfelt thanks to our predecessors. We want to sustainably develop the values that they have created and at the same time purposefully tackle the challenges of the future. Our thanks also go to the members of our families, to our customers, employees, sales partners and importers, suppliers and to all those who have contributed to the success of the company by their personal effort and extensive commitment.”
Ongoing growth
According to the company, planning and investment will be focused on sustainability in the future, rather than short-term profit. The owners aim to expand production capacity and continue to modernise manufacturing and logistics processes.
At the same time, Amazone is looking to develop partnerships, both at home and abroad, to boost market share in all areas.
“When developing new technology, we concentrate primarily on the requirements of our customers, whilst, at the same time, recognising, in good time, the demands of the future. This approach has proven to be successful in the past”, said Dr Justus Dreyer.
This will include expanding the new test farm in Wambergen at the Hasbergen-Gaste facility, which is currently being used for an ongoing arable trial, Controlled Row Farming, to present a new row-based arable farming system.
The company states that it also takes responsibility for the people employed and their families.
“On the one hand, this means the retention and ongoing development of workplaces. On the other hand, we realise that the company needs motivated and qualified employees to remain in a leading position in the development of new technology and to be able continuously to produce optimum quality”, explained Christian Dreyer.
Ideas for our future
The owners see the demands of the economy and ecology as the most important aspects when looking at future product development.
“We would like to make a decisive contribution to world nutrition, and to help our farmers, with innovative ideas, to continue to be capable of handling the future in a sustainable way,” said Dr Justus Dreyer.
“We thus see three important tasks for ourselves and for farming, which are naturally interlinked: Protecting valuable resources, continuously reducing the use of inputs, increased precision for sustainability and cost-efficiency whilst simultaneously maintaining a high level of yield,” continued Christian Dreyer.
Amazone will therefore continue to pursue increased yields per hectare through sustainable methods, as well as increasing biodiversity and soil fertility. The focus will be on the use of electronics through Amazone 4.0 and the extension of plant-based working.
The company will approach this through internal trials, as well as work with scientific institutions, consultants and agricultural practitioners.
“We are concentrating on Amazone being able to serve its customers optimally in the future. It continues to be important to be more flexible, more reliable and to act faster than the others,” concluded the owners.
“This requires us to meet the requirements of the customer, time and again, and to develop innovative technologies. For agricultural machinery and farming, which is system-relevant worldwide in order to feed the population, we see positive, long-term prospects and we are thus looking to the future with optimism.”
For more information go to www.amazone.co.uk
