On Feb. 27, the Bavarian State Ministry for Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy hosted a hydrogen summit. Fendt presented the prototype of a hydrogen tractor there for the first time.

At the hydrogen summit in Straubing, technological potentials and practical uses of hydrogen in agriculture and forestry were discussed under the question "Opportunities and possibilities for agriculture and forestry". The participants came from the fields of science, politics, association work as well as practice.

"I see hydrogen as a very important solution to problems in agriculture and forestry. Agriculture and forestry can supply a lot of energy, which can also be used to generate hydrogen. Agri-PV plants or wind power generate electricity on agricultural and forestry land and use it to produce hydrogen. Hydrogen from biogas plants or from forest residual wood is also conceivable," explains Hubert Aiwanger, Bavarian State Minister for Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy. "The crowning glory, of course, is when farmers themselves use hydrogen for their tractors or agricultural machinery. I hope that Fendt will continue to develop this prototype, because we need these things."

Together with other partners, Fendt is participating in the H2Agrar agricultural model project in Lower Saxony to research a hydrogen infrastructure for agricultural use. In the model project, prototypes of a hydrogen-powered tractor will be used on farms on a regular basis for the first time. To this end, Fendt will deliver its two first-generation prototypes to farms in Haren (Emsland) in Lower Saxony in April 2023. The aim of the project is to research and establish an infrastructure for hydrogen for agriculture in the Emsland model region. The project has already won the DLG Agrifuture Concept Award 2022.

One of the aims of the research project is to investigate the usability and performance potential of hydrogen for agricultural machinery. To this end, Fendt is developing hydrogen-powered prototype tractors with fuel cells. These will be used under real conditions on two agricultural test farms in the Haren region over the entire project period. Within the project, the hydrogen consumption of the tractors will be determined. At the same time, the technical requirements for a suitable hydrogen infrastructure for agriculture will be researched. These findings will form the basis for further research into reducing CO2 emissions from agricultural vehicles.