Three machinery makers carried the fall show season: John Deere launched an AI assistant embedded in Operations Center, Fendt built its largest-ever planter at 80 feet, and Claas rolled out three tractor lines spanning 165 to 450 hp.

That's the short list from a year editors Chris Torres of American Agriculturist and Andy Castillo, Farm Progress technology and equipment editor, describe as notably thin on big announcements. A tough ag economy squeezed the news flow. Fewer launches made the cut.

What shipped at the shows?

• John Deere introduced JD, a new artificial intelligence assistant built directly into the Operations Center platform.
• Fendt unveiled an 80-foot, 32-row Momentum Planter — the largest the company has ever produced.
• Claas launched three new tractor lines: Arion, Axion 8 and Axion 9, covering 165 to 450 hp.

Torres and Castillo recapped the season on the "Ag Tech Amplified" segment of the Farm Progress Nation podcast, covering these rollouts plus several other new products shown this fall.

Where does AI fit on the farm?

Artificial intelligence keeps pushing deeper into equipment and farm software. The editors raised two open questions: how AI will change what farmers can actually do in the field, and how it will steer machinery development itself.

Deere's move is the clearest signal. Embedding an AI assistant inside Operations Center puts machine learning at the center of the data workflow growers already use, rather than bolting it on as a standalone tool.

What does this change for growers?

Not much this season, honestly. The hardware is real — a 32-row planter and a 450-hp tractor line are capital decisions, not gadgets — but the volume of launches tells the real story. When machinery companies go quiet at fall shows, it usually reflects dealers watching inventory and farmers deferring trades. Buyers comparing Claas's new 165-to-450-hp span against existing fleets now have more options at the top end; everyone else waits for pricing and availability.

Old iron and new biology

Two side stories stood out from the show floor. An Iowa farmer is working to preserve the legacy of Minneapolis-Moline tractors, a brand with deep Midwest history. And Brinck made a splash at Farm Progress Show with a new liquid biostimulant — a biological input launch paired with an antique machinery display that drew crowds.

The pairing is worth noting. Input makers are marketing biologicals alongside heritage equipment nostalgia, betting that both signal stewardship and long-term thinking to growers weighing input costs.

The takeaway

The season's numbers were modest — one AI assistant, one record-size planter, three tractor lines, one biostimulant. Torres, a seven-time Keystone Press Award winner who took over American Agriculturist after John Vogel's retirement following 47 years with Farm Progress publications, frames the season as a wrap on a hard year rather than a pivot point. How many of these launches reach dealerships at scale, and at what price, will tell growers whether 2026 brings a machinery rebound or another holding pattern.

Farm Progress Nation is available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other major podcast platforms.