With more than 1,700 companies from 42 different countries, the 2017 SIMA International Agribusiness Show offered a global look at current — and future — farm equipment trends.

The 5-day event, held every other year in Paris, France, drew a diverse crowd of farmers, retailers, distributors and researchers. With the theme “Being a Farmer in 10 Years,” the show emphasized methods and machinery designed to improve long-term sustainability.

Among the highlights was an Innovation First gallery featuring conceptual advancements in four core areas of agriculture: digital technology, robotics, ecological economics and genomics. Complementing the research projects was a start-up village with 15 different young companies launching an array of progressive platforms — from mobile weeding robots to a farm machinery rental website that lets farmers buy and sell equipment.

Here are some highlights from the 2017 SIMA Show.

• Väderstad debuted its Tempo L precision planter, available in 12 or 16 rows and capable of planting speeds of up to 12 mph. The planter has a 1,300-gallon granulated fertilizer tank and row units feature versatile 100-liter tanks for seeding a variety of crops, including corn, cotton or sugarbeets. The system can be controlled by a tablet in the tractor cab, run through the company’s E-Services control center. The system allows for wireless control of seeding population, depth control and down pressure. “Also new on this model is the hydraulic weight transfer that can add and take off pressure,” says sales manager Philip Westman, who added that the planter would be…