It seems as though the weather has taken a turn for the slightly more helpful just in time for the Bank Holiday weekend.

A decent mix of warm sunshine plus much needed rain is predicted across most of the UK. Hopefully dealerships across the nation will see some good business from now on - making up for some of the lost time which the recent prolonged dry spell enforced on many.

As we approach September, thoughts inevitably begin to turn to future business. Coming up next month plenty of manufacturers and distributors will be holding their annual dealer days and road-shows at venues around the UK - showing off for the first time the new products they'll want dealers to be stocking in their stores.

Also it'll be the start of the show season, with both Glee and APF coming up next month. Again excellent opportunities for dealers to get a sense of what the manufacturers feel will be the upcoming trends in new equipment.

I've seen a couple of interesting articles online this past couple of weeks, considering this notion of what customers will be buying and dealers stocking in the near future.

Firstly in terms of agriculture I read an opinion piece from the market research and business intelligence service, IDTechEx, which equated the recent court ruling in the States against Monsanto, with what they see as the unstoppable rise of agricultural robotics. The court case which saw jurors in San Francisco awarding a former school groundsman $289m, ruling that Monsanto's Roundup gave him terminal cancer, according to IDTechEX has "everything" to do with the future of agri-robotics.

In a statement, IDTechEx said that as a consequence of this judgement, "Inevitably, robots, AI, and smart agricultural tools will come to form a major part of a weed control (not chemical) focused business."

They went on to explain, "We believe that agrochemicals companies have no choice but to become intricately involved with robotics and AI. These two technologies will shape the future of their business. The advent of precision see-and-spray technologies will drastically impact on the volume and type of the chemicals employed, potentially transforming the business from one in which they sell bulk non-selective chemicals towards one in which they sell many specialized selective chemicals tailored to various plants."

To read more about their thoughts on future agri-robotics see here.

Secondly, in terms of the future trends in domestic and commercial machinery, albeit in the United States, the American trade magazine Outdoor Power Equipment (OPE), recently published their annual 'Equipment Trends' focus. The title asked representatives from equipment manufacturers throughout the U.S industry to share their thoughts into market trends and where they saw potential growth.

I'm sure it won't come as too much of a surprise that a number of those interviewed by the magazine cited both robots and cordless machinery as the avenues down which themselves and their dealers will be increasingly heading in the future. Representatives from companies including STIHL, Husqvarna, Greenworks, Earthquake, Masport and Milwaukee Tools all mentioned variations on this theme.

Significantly though, several companies spoke of a renewed focus on ergonomics and an ease of customer use dictating their future developments. For example Brad Unruh, director of new product development at Excel Industries (Hustler) is quoted by OPE as saying their focus will be on "..clean, simple designs that make service and reliability a focus. No need to add unnecessary parts and pieces that just add cost." And Pat Cappucci, president and COO, Schiller Grounds Care, tells the magazine "For consumers, making products easier to own and operate seems to be a growing trend, especially with homeowners who want to use products like the pros use. That means improved ergonomics and operator interfaces, clearer operating instructions, and better customer support – particularly online – are necessary."

The whole article is well worth a read so do have a look if you've got 10 minutes spare this weekend. It's certainly interesting to hear how many of the top outdoor power equipment companies in America are seemingly looking at these notions of ease of use, productivity and efficiency - concepts which have of course been around since the year dot - as areas for increased re-focus to generate future profits. I'm sure we'll be seeing the fruits of these efforts over here very soon.

So there definitely appears to be optimism out there. Manufacturers are talking about various areas of development with enthusiasm and belief in their potential. Which I suppose they've always done and would be weird if they did otherwise.

However, with the upcoming shows and dealer days, we'll be able to see for ourselves what equipment is in dealers' immediate future - and gauge what trends we may see from there.