Horsch is celebrating 40 years of manufacturing this year. The company, Horsch Maschinen GmbH, was founded in 1984 in Sitzenhof near Schwandorf by Michael Horsch.
However, Michael was already developing machines. Ahead of establishing his company, he built the Seed-Extractor designed for direct seeding under straw.
The company hit its first milestone early when the fall of the Berlin Wall opened up export opportunities to Eastern countries. In the 2000s, the company extended its portfolio with the Terrano, Tiger and Pronto product lines.
While crop care technology did not officially enter the range until 2011 when Horsch established Horsch Leeb Application Systems GmbH, the company had worked with Leeb from the late 1990s, with prototypes of self-propelled sprayers.
Expansion and exporting
In recent years, Horsch has focused on extending the product range to meet varying requirements across the globe.
This has been matched by the development and construction of a factory in Brazil, as well as investments in the European production lines. In just the last five years, Horsch has doubled staff numbers to almost 3,300.
Future projects
Precision farming is now a focus for Horsch, with the company investing in digitalisation and autonomous driving projects for select markets.