LEMKEN ACQUIRE STEKETEE

LEMKEN has acquired the Dutch manufacturer of mechanical weed control implements Steketee, to expand its own crop care product portfolio including future-oriented camera-assisted machine control.

Steketee’s proprietary camera technology supports farmers in controlling their machines and facilitates both conventional hoeing between rows and hoeing between plants within a row.

LEMKEN has also acquired Steketee’s soil cultivation division Rumptstad, but not its crop ventilation technology business.

“The acceptance of chemical crop care agents is decreasing, both among farmers and within the broader society,” says LEMKEN managing director Anthony van der Ley. “At the same time, resistance against currently available active substances is continually increasing, while hardly any new substances are coming onto the market.

“Also, legal requirements are becoming more and more stringent, and we therefore need effective alternatives,” he says. “Given the widespread use of herbicides, they offer the greatest potential for reducing the use of chemical crop care products. LEMKEN is fully aware of this responsibility, and we intend to promote mechanical weed control by adding hoeing technology to our product range.”

LEMKEN will work with Steketee to expand the company’s Dutch facilities and build on its existing manufacturing capacities. The Steketee and Rumptstad brand names will be retained for the time being.

“When selling the company, it was particularly important to me that my employees would keep their jobs and that we would continue to meet current and future customer needs by focusing on innovative ideas,” says Steketee’s former owner and md Klaas Veerman. “LEMKEN’s product and corporate philosophy have reassured me that we both pursue the same goals. I am therefore only too happy that I will be able to help drive Steketee’s future development.”

Klaas Veerman will continue to have responsibility for Steketee’s operative management together with Iljan Schouten, Head of LEMKEN’s Crop Care Business Unit.