Life Laerthes Project – Presentation at Agritechnica 2025

Hannover, 12 November 2025

The Fyeld Group made its debut in grand style at Hannover’s Agritechnica, the world’s leading trade fair for agricultural machinery.

Stepping onto the agricultural machinery stage as a dynamic new player, Fyeld introduced an original collaborative industrial project that unites established and highly-specialised European enterprises, each contributing complementary expertise across the agronomic cycle. This concept fosters powerful industrial synergies, boosting market appeal while streamlining manufacturing and distribution processes.

Since acquiring Guaresi Spa in 2022, a specialist in mechanised harvesting of processing tomatoes, Fyeld has enjoyed the support of financial partners throughout its expansion. Growth has continued with the acquisitions of Grim (compact self-propelled sprayers), Hortech (transplanting equipment for horticultural crops), Kult (AI-guided cultivators), Toselli (mounted and trailed field sprayers) and, most recently, Agricola Italiana, a leader in precision seeding technology. Launched in 2022, this industrial project has already consolidated revenues exceeding €85 million and built a workforce of 250 employees. And the journey is far from over, as announced by Fyeld CEO, Massimo Zubelli, during the press conference.

At Agritechnica, Fyeld emerged not only as an innovative player in the field, but as a company demonstrating courage and foresight in embracing new technologies to make its machinery more efficient and environmentally sustainable.

In the second half of 2024, Fyeld presented a groundbreaking project to the European Union, which was approved under the LIFE programme with funding of nearly €3 million.

The primary objective of the project, which was approved and co-financed under the name Life 24-ENV- Laerthes 101215488, is the design, construction, and field-testing certification of two prototype machines featuring hybrid drive-trains (downsized diesel engines combined with lithium batteries) and partial transition from hydraulic systems to electric actuators.

The aim is to deliver to the European market machinery that is both more efficient (reducing hourly diesel consumption) and less polluting (cutting emissions of CO₂, NO_X, and particulate matter).

Replacing hydraulic components with electric actuators will also reduce reliance on fossil-based mineral oils, while the remaining hydraulic systems will operate with biodegradable fluids.

During the press briefing, the Fyeld Group was clearly defined by CEO Massimo Zubelli: since 2022, six companies successfully acquired and integrated, €85 million in revenues, 250 employees, and more than 500 machines sold across precision seeding, transplanting, spraying, and tomato and pepper harvesting.

Engineer Marini, head coordinator of the LIFE project, outlined the framework: a consortium-based initiative led by Guaresi, which will develop two prototypes co-designed with Ecothea, a Turin-based start-up spun out of the Polytechnic University of Turin that brings established expertise in integrated design and the electrification of off-road industrial vehicles.

Professor Aurelio Somà, founder of Ecothea and faculty member at the Polytechnic University of Turin, illustrated in broad strokes the know-how Ecothea has built over more than seven years of activity in agricultural machinery electrification and hybridisation projects.

The meeting concluded with Professor Mocera, representing the Polytechnic University of Turin, who is responsible for defining the methodology for field testing the two prototype machines, overseeing the trials, and certifying their compliance with the objectives of the Laerthes project.

These objectives include a 24% reduction in hourly diesel consumption, a 6.9-tonne annual reduction in CO₂ emissions per machine, and a significant decrease in the use of mineral hydraulic oils, replaced in part by electric actuators and biodegradable lubricants.

Finally, Conesa SA, Europe’s leading producer of processing tomatoes and a major processor of tomatoes into purées and concentrates for consumer use, will provide the fields for the trials and performance data collection. These fields are in Spain.

The Life Laerthes project underscores both the originality of Fyeld’s industrial enterprise and its commitment to fostering teamwork at the European level. By leveraging its electromechanical design capabilities and engaging a broad network of actors ranging from electrification technology start-ups to universities and processors, the group is setting a vision for business development that is virtually unrivalled in Europe.