Connecting the Dots Between Ag Policy, Tech Integration and Sustainability

Mark Van Wingerden,global product strategy manager at Eaton, describes how the company is applyingits electrical power distribution and protection expertise to megawatt chargingfor commercial battery-electric trucks. The aim is to further energize BEVadoption among fleets by adding 200 to 300 miles of range in less than 30minutes of charge time.

At The Battery Show 2026 in Detroit, Mich., GraemeGrant, chief operating officer of Alsym Energy, discussed how sodium-ionbattery cell technology could reshape energy storage through lower operatingcosts, strong temperature performance and Alsym’s solution to eliminate thermalrunaway risk. He also explored other potential applications for the technologyas well as the role it could play in enabling the U.S. to become a globalleader in the battery market.

CumminsPower Systems President Jenny Bush discusses how AI is accelerating data centergrowth and reshaping power infrastructure. She examined grid constraints, thegrowing demand for behind-the-meter solutions, the continuing role of dieselbackup power, emerging power generation solutions as well as the technologiesthat could shape future data center power strategies.

GregorSueck, who recently took over as seniorvice president, Power Systems, at John Deere Power Systems, shared with Power Progress Editor BeckySchultz his background and how it has shaped his vision for the future of JDPSand off-highway power as a whole. They discussed the company’s next-generationdiesel platforms, the role of renewable fuels and Deere’s strategy forelectrification, hybrid solutions and connectivity.

Ina conversation with Power Progress editors Becky Schultz and Chad Elmore at thecompany’s annual Power-On-Athon event, Echo executives Ryan Frederickson andWayne Thompson discussed the company’s evolution in industrial power equipment(IPE). They explored its growth in rental, construction and data centermarkets; R&D on new products and applications; and the features thatdifferentiate Echo in a crowded power solutions space.

At iVT Off-HighwayVehicle Technology Expo 2026, Dr. Holly Mayton, who leads the Science,Technology and Policy Partnerships team at John Deere, gave a presentation on“Advancing sustainable off-highway operations with renewable fuels.” PowerProgress Editor Becky Schultz met up with Mayton afterward to discuss thepolicies impacting the agricultural industry and how renewable fuels, precisionag technology and data management and collection can combine to help reduce theindustry’s carbon intensity.

At theworld record-setting speed trial of the JCB Hydromax at Bonneville Salt Flats,I caught up with Richard Fox-Marrs, president and CEO of JCB North America, todiscuss the factors behind JCB’s planned expansion in the region, specificallyits new state-of-the-art Texas manufacturing site, and the benefits it willbring to the company and its customers. We also touched upon what might comenext, including the possibility of producing engines in the U.S. for the localmarket.

RayGallant, vice president, Sustainability and Innovation, Volvo ConstructionEquipment, and Becky Schultz, editor of Power Progress, explore how theconstruction industry is shifting from machine-centric innovation toa holistic, site-wide approach that prioritizes people, productivityand sustainability. He explores the role of technologies such as AI inachieving this, the cultural and collaboration challenges ahead and thepotential for such tools to help create safer, more efficient and sustainablejobsites.

At ConExpo-Con/Agg 2026, Power Progress Editor Becky Schultz met with Boris Laudenbach, director, Portfolio and Product Management, and Joe Maher, head of sales globally, Connect and Control Solutions at Danfoss Power Solutions, to discuss the issue of cybersecurity in light of pending European Union regulations. They explored the global implications of the regulations; the increased risk of cyberattacks on machines as electrification anddigitalization expand; and the steps Danfoss is taking to help reduce theburden for OEMs in achieving cybersecurity on their machines.

AtConExpo-Con/Agg 2026, Power Progress Editor Becky Schultz and Dig Robotics Co-founderand Chief Performance Officer Kenneth Gray discussed how his company seeks toreduce human variability in operator performance by combining LiDAR-basedcomputer vision, machine learning and real-time operator feedbackto fine-tune excavator performance during every bucket cycle.