Agritechnica, the world leading exhibition for agricultural machinery with 2,813 exhibitors this year, successfully ended on 18 November and attracted over 470,000 visitors from 149 countries. For over a week, the event focussed on еруchallenges and future of the industry.

ROPA, being a traditional family company with Bavarian roots, but internationally recognised and highly innovative, presented its products in a modern ambience. The unique stand concept with a cosy beer garden invited the guests to enjoy informal conversations and good company.

ROPA focuses on technical innovations. This year, the premium products and the latest innovations in the field of self-propelled sugar beet harvesters and loaders, the Keiler potato harvester and planting technology for pre-sprouted potatoes were presented on a huge area of 865 m².

The premium potato harvester

On the occasion of Agritechnica 2023, ROPA presents the latest generation of its two-row trailed potato harvesters. The ROPA Keiler 2 RK22 introduces a new era in the potato harvesting technology. A blend of innovative technical solutions and aesthetically pleasing design features, together with an advanced hydraulic and operating concept create this top-quality machine of the premium class. The new Keiler 2 embodies sustainable agriculture based on innovation, digitalisation and networking. 
The striking image of the new ROPA Keiler 2 represents digitalisation and Agriculture 4.0. The light blue line symbolises the connection of the Keiler to the R-Connect telematics.
For its general concept and technological leadership, the potato harvester was recently presented with the German Innovation Award 2023. 

The ROPA Keiler 1 is a one-row trailed potato harvester with a 6 t bunker. The Keiler 1 has been specifically designed for customers with increased demands for the highest quality (ware potato) and, at the same time, thorough and extremely gentle cleaning and excellent haulm separation. The load-sensing hydraulics enable fully hydraulic adjustment of the speed of all cleaning components, particularly sieving conveyors and leaf chain. The complete harvester is very low-vibration and low-noise thanks to its fully hydraulic drive. All cleaning devices maintain their optimal speed independently of the PTO speed. The fuel consumption is reduced with the reduced tractor engine speed. The controls and the touch terminal for the Keiler 1 can be ergonomically integrated in any tractor cabin. ROPA Keilers are compatible with any ISOBUS terminal.

An advantage when cultivating new potatoes

In cooperation with farmsupport, ROPA has created a planter for pre-sprouted potatoes.Gecko, the new hand planter from ROPA, combines gentle planting of pre-sprouted potatoes without breaking the sprouts with high effectiveness and good working conditions for the personnel. 

Two operators work on each planting row. They put the sprouted potatoes lengthwise on the gentle and protective belts, which convey potatoes without any further stress and grinding contact until the tubers are precisely deposited in the soil. This technology allows optimal planting of potatoes with up to 12 cm length at a driving speed of 3.5 km/h. The distance between plants can be variably adjusted in 16 stages.

Patented chassis with 10 per cent slope compensation

The ROPA Tiger 6S with up to 796 hp/585 kW is the most powerful sugar-beet harvester in the world. The cabin with panoramic view feels spacious and offers the driver very comfortable working environment. This high-tech machine is the embodiment of innovation, digitalisation and networking in agricultural technology. In comparison with the Tiger 6, the Tiger 6S has two 12.1 inch operating terminals with high pixel density resulting in even sharper resolution. Operation via the terminal with interactive buttons is even more intuitive and uses the same logic as tablets and smartphones. In addition to the machine functions, the camera images can also be displayed on the terminal on the left A-pillar. The Tiger 6S has digital cameras as standard. The unloading conveyor and the bunker unloading can be controlled even more conveniently from the new ergonomic control element on the left armrest. Five function buttons on the right multifunction joystick can be assigned as desired, for example with the wide-area window wiper. The standard integrated telematics module is the basis for fast assistance and diagnostics if service is required on any continent.

More spacious cutting-edge driver's cabin

The ROPA Maus 6 is a premium model from the leader in the sugar beet loading and harvesting technology, which manifests a successful combination of the field-proven technical solutions and modern design. Perfected in capacity and efficiency concept with 10.2 m wide pickup system combines practice-oriented developments with the most recent technical innovations from the ROPA House. The extremely economical Mercedes Benz OM 936 LA engine of 260 kW / 354 hp with 7.7 l volume capacity, 2-stage turbocharging, 1,450 Nm max. torque at 1,200 - 1,600 rpm is integrated in the most efficient drive concept. It is automatically driven at reduced engine rpm during loading, while at the same time preserving enough power for extreme conditions. The standard integrated telematics module is the basis for proactive Service 4.0, particularly for predictive analytics and fast assistance and diagnostics if service is required on any continent. For machines with integrated weighing equipment, the individual loads can be listed and analysed in the R-Connect.

The newly designed panoramic cabin gives a generous feeling of space and can be raised to 5.10 m. Compared to the Maus 5, the cabin of the Maus 6 is 16 cm wider, 40 cm longer and, with an enormous total volume of 4,400 l, offers 1,125 l or 35 percent more space and room. The Maus 6 has the largest cabin compared to other sugar beet loaders in the market. It now offers more room also for a foldable passenger seat, e.g. for a supervisor or for coordination in case of a driver change.

Status and data of all machines at a glance

R-Connect is the ROPA telematics solution for intelligently networked farm and logistics management with live assistance, documentation playback, diagnostics and Service 4.0.
The telematics module in the machines is thus the basis for proactive Service 4.0, particularly for predictive analytics and fast assistance and diagnostics on any continent. When service is required, if desired the service technician can switch directly to the terminal and the machine control and assist the driver, e.g. with problem-solving.The R-Connect dashboard shows the current status of the machines and the daily output. The location, road travel along, current lifting performance and loading progress of the machines can be seen in the individual view along with the detailed data. For machines with weighing device (Maus 6), weighed loads are transmitted individually, including the associated machine data, to the R-Connect portal, where they can be viewed, evaluated and downloaded by the machine schedulers.