Sugar Beet

own beet biogas plant on site.

The highlight of the day was seeing Mr Paintner himself driving and lifting sugar beet with the very rst unique machine from 1972. Powered by two V8 air-cooled Deutz engines, driven and steered by all six wheels, the six-row tanker harvester was an absolute revelation back when Mr Paintner built it 50 years ago for harvesting on his own farm.

Well-attended demo day showcases sugar beet harvesting solutions

Visitors ocked to the 27ha factory site to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Hermann Paintner, Ropa’s founder and owner, building his very rst selfpropelled sugar beet harvester. Despite being held during a busy campaign here in the UK, a group of 18 delegates – led by CTM and including Ropa owners and contractors – travelled to the demonstration. They joined visitors from North America, China, Egypt and all parts of Europe. The event showcased ve Ropa Tigers and Panthers lifting on the heavy land elds surrounding the factory, with the beet then being loaded by Ropa Maus for use in the manufacturer’s

Robert Black from David J Black & Sons said: “We’re grateful to CTM for organising an excellent trip [...]. It was a fantastic opportunity to speak face-toface with representatives from ROPA, discussing onboard/remote telematics and to see the latest harvesting developments being tested in the eld. If Carlsberg did beet demos this would be it! The best food, beer and beet harvesters you could want.”

He added: “It’s great to see Ropa continuing to re-invest and working closely with customers. This, coupled with the service and support of CTM Harpley Engineering’s excellent team, enables me to run harvesters for multiple seasons without compromising reliability. They are simply rst class.”

Ropa produces around 50% of the world’s self-propelled beet machinery and is regarded in the industry as a premium brand. The large site now employing 470 sta has developed to currently 47,000m2 of production and storage space and with a new 27,000m2 logistics building currently under construction.

CTM, also a leading UK manufacturer of sugar beet cleaner loaders, has successfully sold and supported new and nearly new Ropa machines over the past 20 years. Due to their reliability, new and used Ropa harvesters are very sought after in many countries and with good maintenance, provided by CTM, they give many years’ service.

A large area outside was transformed into an agricultural machinery exhibition, o ering interest to all areas of agriculture, from tractors and trailers, to implements and farm service industries.

The event also showcased 10 years of potato machinery production, with a demonstration at a nearby farm of the latest Keiler one- and two-row harvesters. After only a relatively recent entry into the market, Ropa now produces and sells well over 150 potato harvesters each year.

For more information visit www.ctmrootcropsystems.co.uk or contact CTM directly. FG