5 Key Takeaways from MAGIE 2022: Reflections in Prose and Pictures
In mid-August, the annual Midwest AG Industries Exposition (MAGIE), hosted by the Illinois Fertilizer & Chemical Association (IFCA) took place at the McLean County Fairgrounds in Bloomington, IL. Now celebrating its 41st year, the event attracted more than 2,400 attendees over the course of its two days.
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As is always the case, there were several common threads that inspired many of the exhibits, pieces of ag retail equipment, and other special touches that shown through. Here, CropLife and CropLife IRON magazines are proud to present our five key takeaways from this year’s show, illustrated by some photos highlighting these trends.
1. Ride-and-Drive Back with Gusto!
At any MAGIE, many attendees want the opportunity to take part in the ride-and-drive that many exhibitors offer for their various pieces of Big IRON. And although these did occur during the 2021 MAGIE show, concerns about COVID-19 and the need to social distance (required by the state) kept largely kept enthusiasm for these to a minimum.
But this wasn’t the case in 2022. This year, the numerous ride-and-drive areas on the fairgrounds were busy virtually non-stop throughout the two-day MAGIE event. In fact, even though the first day of MAGIE officially ended at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, August 24, ride-and-drives continued for many of the most popular self-propelled sprayers! This included models sporting the John Deere, Hagie, and Horsch names.
2. Awards A-Plenty!
Besides hosting a first-class trade show, IFCA presented a pair of awards at this year’s MAGIE. New this year was a trophy and recognition for a custom applicator within the state of Illinois that has shown “dedication, achievement, and an overall professional attitude” when applying crop protection product to grower-customer fields. The trade group accepted applications for this award throughout the early summer months of 2022, narrowing the finalists down to four from there. The winner ended up being John Ehler from Ehler Brothers in Royal, IL.
In addition to the Applicator of the Year award, IFCA also recognized one exhibitor at the MAGIE show that exemplified the best “booth display.” In 2022, the winner of this honor was Fertilizer Dealer Supply.
Founded in 1967, Fertilizer Dealer Supply prides itself on being a premier supplier of agricultural sprayer parts to fertilizer and chemical retailers across seven different states. Headquartered in Philo, IL, the company carries products lines for multiple manufacturers. This includes TeeJet, Banjo, Chandler, Willmar, Blu-Jet, and Ray-Man.
As the official magazine of the MAGIE show, CropLife IRON also presents its own trophy at the show. This one, the ShowStopper, is given to the product that “stops people in their tracks to take a closer look,” says Editor Eric Sfiligoj. The winner of the 15th ShowStopper trophy was a newcomer to the event, Horsch, LLC, for its newly launched LEEB VL self-propelled sprayer.
3. Many Booms Accessories
For many years at the MAGIE show, suppliers and manufacturers seemed to focus much of their attention on improving the accessories that go inside of the control cabs for self-propelled sprayers. All manner of in-cab controllers, guidance systems, joystick modifications, and shock-absorbing driver seats were the norm.
But at the 2022 MAGIE, many of the accessories being displayed at the show were for outside the cab, targeting the booms themselves. This included various systems to help improve/target crop protection product application such as the See & Spray Ultimate from John Deere, Greeneye, Intelligent Ag’s Recon SpreadSense, and Capstan’s PinPoint III Envelop to hoods for sprayers from Willmar Fabrication, designed to reduce off-target drift.
One of the more interesting boom accessories was exhibited by ShockAvoid. This paired two boom arm sensors with an in-cab display to allow operators to monitor if their unfolding/folding booms were too close to power lines while applying in crop fields, preventing a potentially dangerous situation for all involved.
4. Drones Take Flight
Back approximately 10 years ago, drones (or unmanned aerial vehicles) were a hot product category at the MAGIE show. In fact, there were dozens of small companies vying for attention in this space, featuring numerous models for attendees to see for themselves. Unfortunately, at that time, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rules prohibited these from actually flying on a crowded fairground, so most visitors had to be content to simply “imagine” what these drones could do in the field (or watch demonstration videos produced by the manufacturers at their MAGIE booths).
However, at the 2022 MAGIE, drones were able to take flight, demonstrating for all what these innovative vehicles could really do. For example, Agri Spray Drones regularly flew its Agras T30 unit at its MAGIE booth throughout the show.
Further back on the fairground, Rantizo had a model of its DJI Agras MG-1P Agricultural Spray Drone flying through a roped off area, showing how the unit could apply product and manage to avoid obstacles or pre-set barriers to its movement.
“Even though I am controlling this drone and trying to move it forward, it won’t move any closer to our audience because it knows that would be too close for it to apply products,” said the company’s Adam Langer during one demonstration. “Safety will also come first with this drone.”
5. An Autonomous Vehicle Hints at the Future
At many ag equipment shows held during the first-half of 2022, autonomous vehicles were fairly numerous. This was particularly true at events targeting the grower-customer community.
At the 2022 MAGIE show, there was only one autonomous vehicle in operation, the OMNiPower 3200 from Raven Industries. This unit formally made its debut at the 2021 MAGIE, but was then sporting only a non-painted unit that the company was still perfecting.
At this year’s show, the OMNiPower 3200 was decked out in Raven’s black-and-blue color scheme. The unit spent most of the show illustrating how it would remotely apply such products as dry fertilizer in a field without having to carry around a human operator at the time.
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