MACHINEFABRIEK STEKETEE BV

Their core work

Machinefabriek Steketee BV is a Dutch agricultural machinery manufacturer that builds precision farming equipment, with a clear specialization in autonomous field robots designed for mechanical and non-chemical weed control. Their machines integrate satellite positioning (Galileo/RTK) for centimeter-level navigation accuracy and use physical methods — laser and electrocution — to eliminate weeds without herbicides. In EU projects, they contribute as hardware specialists: they bring real, deployable field equipment into research consortia, not just concepts or software. Their work directly serves dairy farmers and arable crop producers who face weed pressure from persistent species like broad-leaved dock (Rumex obtusifolius).

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their first H2020 engagement (IoF2020, 2017), Steketee contributed to a broad smart farming and IoT platform focused on data-driven food chains and connected agri-business — a systems-level, platform-oriented context. By 2019, with GALIRUMI, their focus sharpened dramatically to a specific hardware problem: building an autonomous robot that could locate and kill a single invasive weed species using satellite navigation and physical weeding actuators. The trajectory moves from general smart farming participation toward highly targeted robotic hardware development, suggesting the company used the IoT project to connect to the EU research ecosystem and then used that positioning to lead a more product-relevant, machine-centered innovation project.

Steketee is moving toward field-deployable autonomous agricultural robots with integrated satellite navigation — a direction that aligns with the growing EU market for herbicide reduction and farm labor replacement.

How they like to work

Steketee has participated exclusively as a consortium partner rather than a coordinator, suggesting they join projects where their machinery expertise is needed rather than driving the research agenda themselves. Despite only two projects, they have interacted with 93 unique partners across 16 countries — a remarkably broad network for an SME of this size, consistent with the large Innovation Action consortia that both IoF2020 and GALIRUMI represent. This makes them experienced at working within complex multi-partner structures, even if they are not in a leadership role.

Steketee has built a 93-partner network spanning 16 countries through just two projects — an unusually wide reach for a small Dutch manufacturer. Their connections are predominantly within the European agri-food and precision agriculture research community, with the Netherlands as their home base.

What sets them apart

Steketee occupies a rare position in EU research consortia: they are a working machine manufacturer, not a research institute or software company, which means they can move directly from prototype to commercially produced equipment. Their specific expertise in non-chemical weeding — using laser and electrocution rather than herbicides — is technically niche and commercially timely given tightening EU pesticide regulations. For a consortium needing field-ready agricultural hardware with Galileo integration, they are one of very few Dutch SMEs that can deliver actual machines rather than reports.

Highlights from their portfolio

• GALIRUMI
  Their most technically specific project — developing a satellite-guided autonomous robot to control a single invasive weed species using non-chemical methods, a concrete product-development effort with direct commercial application in European dairy farming.
• IoF2020
  One of the largest H2020 smart farming Innovation Actions (multi-million euro budget, 70+ partners), giving Steketee access to a pan-European precision farming network well beyond their company size.