Ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning and welcome to the New Holland Sustainable Pavilion!
Today, I am very proud and honoured to be here with you and to introduce you this amazing pavilion!
For New Holland it has been a long and engaging journey to achieve this big result.
More than three years ago, when EXPO Milano was still just a dream, Franco Fusignani ,our previous Brand President, realised that this would be our big chance to consolidate our role in promoting a new, innovative and sustainable approach to agriculture and from the very beginning we were conscious that this was going to be a very tough job. But we were open and eager to accept this big challenge
The opening of this splendid Sustainable Farm Pavilion marks the conclusion of a project that has required enormous commitment and passion, major investments and strong teamwork….
As you all know Feeding the planet, Energy for life is the theme of Expo 2015. It has inspired our approach to this project since this is a fantastic opportunity to make a close-up on the agricultural world and on its protagonists, the farmers.
From the creative concept up to the construction of the pavilion and the visit experience we have followed few, fundamental principles:
First - To bring the New Holland brand and agriculture closer to a wider audience
Secondly - To explain the importance of agricultural mechanization in the food supply chain
Thirdly - To be sustainable in what we do at Expo and to show and promote the sustainability in our business
And last but not least - To have a simple, accessible and interactive approach, easy to understand by all visitors.
Our big challenge in this project has been to change hats, to think about the Expo project as our brothers and sisters or our friends who do not know anything about agriculture to make sure we deliver a project that can be appreciated by all visitors.
The Pavillion is designed and built according to sustainable principles.
• There are no concrete foundations and only steel has been used…so that it will be easy to dismantle, no demolition works will be needed and no landfill material will be produced
…and when it will be moved the area will be left clear and unpolluted.
• Rainwater is recycled and re-used for the irrigation,
• We use photovoltaic cells to produce part of the energy for the
pavillion.
• And at the end of the Expo, we will move the building to another location and use it for a different purpose
We start from the stairs and the rooftop of the pavilion with a panoramic view on the kaleidoscope installation representing the New Holland logo.
Also on the roof you can see the second generation Methane Tractor whose role in the Energy Independent Farm is explained in a dedicated area on the first floor thanks to a 3D installation.
On the same floor, an interactive game illustrates the concept of ‘Doing more with less’ by reducing energy consumption, polluting emissions and the use of inputs.
Always on the first floor, guests will learn more about the stories of our farmers, our real New Holland customers from Europe, Canada, China, Russia, Brasil and Zimbabwe.
The Seeds of Life videos are part of our global advertising campaign, where farmers are at the heart of the communication. There we celebrate these modern heroes and their role in feeding the world.
Since the launch of the campaign in October 2014, almost 3 million people have watched the different episodes of this video series.
The tour of the pavilion continues on the second ramp where the Augmented Reality application is linked to the three models displayed in the ground floor. These are the three New Holland flagships - a T7.270 high horsepower tractor, a CR 9.90 combine and a Braud 9060L self-propelled grape harvester – that symbolize the variety of food they contribute to produce.
On the ground floor, visitors can enjoy the storytelling of 120 years of New Holland history and innovations and take a closer look at the FPT Industrial Cursor 16 engine that we use in the CR10.90 combine and even have a real driving and harvesting experience in the combine simulator.
After this introduction you will be able to walk around the pavilion and experience all these interactive tools and installations.
I’m personally very proud of what we have achieved, of our fantastic Sustainable Farm Pavilion and of the fact that New Holland is a key player in an event that is global in reach but is also extremely important for Italy.
And exactly two weeks since it was opened, I can say that the overall assessment is already very positive.
Thanks to our strategic central location and our pavilion’s unique architecture, we have already attracted around 30000 visitors, who had the chance to find out more about the world of agricultural equipment and to discover as New Holland views the future of agriculture as a way of Feeding the Planet and providing Energy for Life.
Agriculture has always existed. It dates back to the dawn of civilisation and the beginning of history.
New Holland occupies a leading role in the history of agriculture and civilisation since 120 years.
In fact today, we are here not only to celebrate this exceptional Event, but also to celebrate our Brand New Holland Agriculture. A Brand that continues to build the future of agriculture and is strongly committed to innovate the agricultural Business, delivering the right solutions to customers and providing them a full range of leading products .
Starting from our founding fathers, in all our history, we kept improving the life of farmers
• increasing their productivity
• ensuring rational use of resources for fair and sustainable food production.
Past, present and future form a continuous path along which New Holland’s people and equipment continue to travel in their mission to improve the world.
As already said, our pavilion is inspired by sustainability and therefore by the Clean Energy Leader strategy launched by New Holland in 2006 with the aim of reducing farmers’ reliance on fossil fuels and promoting the cultivation of bioenergy.
This strategy, is based on four key pillars:
• Growing Energy
• Efficient productivity
• Sustainable farming:.
• Committed Company:
We are part of a Sustainable and Committed Company,
CNH Industrial, which is driven primarily to improve the competitive position of its global brands but also demonstrates that it is thinking as a socially responsible organization.
A key example outside the agricultural world, is the sustainabile mobility message and respect for the environment which Iveco and Iveco Bus have always promoted as European leaders in the natural gas-powered vehicle sector.
Iveco Bus offers a complete range of alternatively-powered buses, such as those which run on methane or biomethane, as well as hybrid vehicles. You can see some of them running here at Expo as the exclusive shuttles throughout the six-month event.
As stated by our Chairman, we believe that a global enterprise, such as CNH Industrial, must act to create long-term value for the Company and its stakeholders, for the community, and for society as a whole.
We demonstrated this and CNHI, as you all know, was reconfirmed for the fourth consecutive year as Industry Leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) World and Europe
And to complete the picture about sustainability here at Expo let me remind you that CNH Industrial and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles are taking part in this prestigious event as Official Global Partners. Their significant efforts in favour of a responsible management of business in three major areas such as agriculture and transport - that I have ealready talked about-, and automobiles, provide a clear indication of how much the two companies share the ideals of the greatest event ever held on food and nutrition. FCA has provided a fleet of 105 vehicles featuring low emissions and alternative fuels, which fully comply with sustainable mobility criteria. They will be used to accompany the many delegations of guests arriving from all over the world.
To conclude Sustainability for New Holland is a key value expressed here at Expo, not only in the Pavillion making but also in all the initiatives we are building linked to the Expo theme and linked to the territory in which we operate .
One of this is a charity project for which we are teaming up with the ‘Mariele Ventre’ childrens’ choir of the Antoniano in Bologna, the famous “Zecchino D’Oro” . The Antoniano Production has composed for us a beautiful song , promoting our Expo Claim “Together we feed the world” and spreading also a positive message of hope and faith for the future, through the innocent voice of children.
The proceeds from the sales of the CD will fund an Antoniano onlus project in Bologna : for each cd sold a meal will be offered to the kitchen soup for the poors. 5000 meals have been ensured already.
BUT NOW…it is time for you to enjoy the visit!
I would like to conclude my speech today by thanking again all of you for your presence here.
Enjoy your visit!
