I am very proud that I had the opportunity to go to melbourne for Fendt directly after I graduated. My internship began mid-April. One of my tasks was to investigate how satisfied Fendt customers are with the tractors from Marktoberdorf in faraway Australia and how they are used – nearly 16,000 km away. I immediately received a hearty welcome in Melbourne. My workplace was in the Marketing team of the different AGCO brands. In the first few days, I learned a lot about the agricultural machinery market in Australia from my new colleagues. And then it was already time to go out – to visit real Fendt customers “Down Under”.

In my second week, at 4:30 in the morning, my colleague Cameron Power, Digital Marketing Officer AGCO Australia, and I made our way from Melbourne towards the North in the dark morning light – as always, I had my camera with me. We arrived at our destination at sunrise: one of the largest olive producers in Australia, maybe even the entire world. One million olive trees are planted on an area totalling 2,700 hectares near the inconspicuous village of Boort. Two additional locations belong to the farm, which brings the total area that is cultivated to more than 6,200 hectares. Just a reminder: we are talking about an olive plantation, not an arable farming enterprise!

It is 5 pm Friday and finishing time is nearing as I get a call from Stuart Bowman. He is a farmer on the island of Tasmania and invites me to come and visit him this weekend. He didn’t have to ask twice. I packed up my gear and just made it to the 6 pm ferry in Port Melbourne with my car. After a not very rejuvenating night on a reclining chair, we arrived in the port of Devonport at 6:00 in the morning. At this point, it would make sense to rethink the term “island” in regard to Tasmania, after all, it almost has the same amount of area as Ireland. A bit later I met Stuart in Deloraine, about 50 km away. The 35-yearold is a contractor in an arable farming region. Stuart took his place in a Fendt tractor cab for the first time ten years ago at a field day. That apparently left a strong impression on him: after the first two Fendt 700 Vario tractors, the current fleet includes a Fendt 820 Vario, a Fendt 822 Vario and a Fendt 922 Vario.

As I arrived, Stuart was just about to start working with the Fendt 822 Vario and a 5-metre Lemken disc harrow. I leapt up directly into the instructor seat. Stuart tells me he loves his Fendts. That is why he spends a lot of time in the driver seat, even though he has an employee and temporary operators. In addition to cultivation work, the tractors are used a lot in grassland operations. Furthermore, he also has a job harvesting opium poppies with two tractors. The Fendts are equipped with reversing driver stations and, fitted with a header and transport wagon, they turn into self-propelled harvesters. Opium poppy cultivation, for example, for producing morphine, is strictly controlled by the government. The climatic conditions, but certainly also the geographical remoteness of this area, make it perfect for cultivating this precarious crop.

July is one of the coolest and most unattractive months in Southern Australia. An ideal time to organise a tour to the farmers in the North. A threehour flight takes me to the holiday town of Cairns in Queensland. The year-round summer temperatures and the coast near to the Great Barrier Reef make this region my highlight. Besides citrus fruits and sugar cane, vegetables are also cultivated here. After a two-hour car drive on dirt roads, I meet Don Murray, who uses a 211 Vario on his farm for cultivating organic vegetables. Pumpkins and zucchini are the main crops.