US farm with 93,000 hectares for sale: 10,000 cattle on 2 islands.
10,000 cattle, deer, bison, and a slaughterhouse in the middle of nowhere. One of the largest slaughterhouses in Alaska is located on the storm-battered Umnak Island.
Philipp Horsch believes that the economy is the foundation of prosperity. He calls for a commitment to economic policy and then sees the best conditions for agricultural technology in Germany worldwide.
Together with Lebensmittelpraxis and essen & trinken, top agrar has founded the "Initiative Standort Deutschland." The three titles of the Landwirtschaftsverlag show how important the agricultural and food industry is for the location. Within this framework, selected German companies explain how they view Germany and why they continue to invest here despite all the problems.
Philipp Horsch is managing director and partner of Horsch Maschinen GmbH in Bavaria.
"We are less affected by the crisis than is typical for the industry, especially since we are only regionally affected by declining sales and globally moving sideways. We can compensate for this well and cushion it. Global market penetration, proactive dealings with our sales partners, product variety, and flexibility in our factories help us."
The biggest challenge currently is the general geopolitical situation. The uncertain progress of the war in Ukraine, the effects of US foreign economic policy, and, last but not least, the lack of reform capability in German and European politics greatly reduce planning security.
Back to more trust and responsibility, instead of control, prohibitions, and regulations.
For the future, we wish for a clear political and social commitment to our economic issues as the sole basis for our sustainable prosperity. It requires a focus on strengthening competitiveness. Specifically, this means, for example, reducing the state quota, withdrawing regulations, reforming labor laws, etc. In general: back to more trust and responsibility, instead of control, prohibitions, and regulations.
Nevertheless, clear location advantages.
Nevertheless, we still have a very good infrastructure, a dynamic, medium-sized supplier industry, short distances, reasonably predictable political framework conditions, and a high level of very good, responsible skilled workers in Germany. We hardly find this in the world in this form. These are clear location advantages that we must maintain and even expand!
Agricultural technology, by definition, means small batch sizes, high variance, the highest innovation dynamics, and, in terms of supplier industry and production, more of a manufacturing than mass production character. For these requirements of our industry, we have the best conditions here in Germany and Central Europe. It is no coincidence that our agricultural machinery industry is one of the strongest globally!
Philipp Horsch is the managing director and partner of Horsch Maschinen GmbH in Bavaria. (Image Source: Horsch)