OUTSTANDING RELIABILITY

“We spread approximately 8000 - 10000 tonnes of muck through them every year. We needed a spreader that was robust and reliable, with good back-up for parts. The size of the Titan 10 is just right for getting in and out of our customers gateways.”

"As we are contractors, there is a lot of travel on the roads, the sprung drawbar, commercial axle and air brakes make for a safe and smooth ride, even when loaded. They're great spreaders and farmers or contractors will have no problem with them.”

Corteva and LEAF announce next Resilient & Ready farms

The sustainable farming initiative from Corteva Agriscience and LEAF, Resilient & Ready, has selected the next two farms to embark on the three-year programme.

The Graham family has been at Lodge Farm in Nazeing, Essex, for nearly 100 years. But Bryony Graham and her brother, Archie, say the 300ha site has become increasingly di cult to work with, with recent wet autumns compounding the problems experienced. “We farm very heavy clay,” Bryony explains. “Working on soil like this has always been a challenge, but the past three wet autumns have made it even harder to establish winter crops.”

The family has already diversi ed from its arable operation, setting up a successful wedding and events business and branching out into renewable energy through a recently-installed biomass boiler. By integrating agroforestry, the boiler will be fed by 7ha of short-term willow coppice.

Nick and Lucy Tyler of Kingsplay Farming Company in Heddington, Wiltshire, have focused on animal health and welfare in recent

Grange Machinery joins forces with Manns

Grange Machinery has extended its dealer network with the appointment of major dealership Manns. A family-run company based in East Yorkshire, Grange Machinery manufactures agricultural machines and wearing parts that it says o er a ordable solutions to farmers.

The range specialises in adaptable low disturbance toolbars and standalone looseners; Grange Machinery has also recently launched the Strip-Till Preparator.

Part of the Claas global agricultural machinery business, Manns has seven depots in East Anglia, Kent and Leicestershire selling the years and are now keen to incorporate more sustainable and environmentally positive farming techniques into their business. Nick is the third generation of his family to run their mixed 850ha farming business, which comprises dairy, beef and arable enterprises. Lucy, who is also a veterinary surgeon, works alongside Nick and their sta .

The rst Resilient & Ready meetings with the new farms took place recently. Anyone who would like to follow their journeys can do so at www. corteva.co.uk/resilient-andready full range of Claas machinery plus Horsch’s cultivation and seeding products, among other franchises.

The range will be showcased with Claas and Horsch machinery at Manns’ forthcoming Geared for Growth demonstration tour which will run from 4th April to 10th May.

Food Standards Scotland launches on-farm safety scheme

Farmers are being urged to be on their guard this spring and help protect livestock from the deadly consequences of lead poisoning. Discarded materials around farmland, including car and electric fence batteries, or ash from where lead has been burned, can prove fatal to animals if digested.

Young livestock, turned out into the eld for the rst time at this time of year, are particularly at risk due to their inquisitive nature within new

Dealer appointment strengthens European presence

UK vegetable handling equipment manufacturer Haith Group has appointed Remach BV to represent it in Holland and Belgium.

Established in 2019, Remach specialises in supplying sorting, washing and packing machinery to arable farmers, agricultural companies and processors and will o er the full range of Haith equipment and undertake servicing and maintenance.

The agreement was signed shortly before Remach’s open day in Ens on 10th March.

As part of Remach’s open day, Richard Haith showcased the latest version of the company’s Root Veg Polisher at the event – a stainless steel 3m by 14 roller model with carrot speci cation brushes, direct drive and a semi-automatic sample washer.

For more information about Haith Group and its products or Remach, visit www.haith.co.uk or www.remachbv.nl

UK agricultural tractor registrations – February 2023

surroundings.

Food Standards Scotland (FSS) is reinforcing its on-farm safety messaging, with Stuart McAdam, the organisation’s head of incidents, saying that lead poisoning can have a devastating impact for farmers and can put consumers at risk.

“Lead is a highly toxic metal which can cause slow or stunted growth, blindness, infertility, birth defects and death. Not only are health impacts on stock distressing, but there are nancial implications such as veterinary fees, carcass disposal and loss of market value.

“We know farmers are very serious about the health and welfare of the animals in their care, however, because incidents of lead poisoning often peak in spring when cattle are put out to pasture we’re re-launching our on-farm incident prevention campaign. Lead batteries, old paint, bon re ash and ytipping are the primary causes of lead poisonings.”

February generally sees relatively small numbers of tractors registered, as buyers wait for the new registration plates from the beginning of March. This year was no exception, with only 487 agricultural tractors registered during February 2023. That was 15% fewer than in the same month last year, although the higher level of registrations in January means that the total for the year to date was still 6% higher than in the opening two months of 2022 and was close to the recent average for the time of year.

Month: 487 units -14.7% change (compared with February 2022)

Year to date: 1,131 units +5.6% change (compared with January–February 2022)

New test for potato residues launched

A new test has been launched by Euro ns Agro UK to help potato growers with pesticide residue testing. The test can be booked online and comes at a time when some farm assurance schemes have implemented the need to test every year, or to have an evidence-based justi cation for fewer tests.

The potato industry is expected to make signi cant changes to the way potatoes are stored after the loss of approval for chlorpropham (CIPC). This may include the use of other chemicals like maleic hydrazide and 1,4-dimethylnaphthalene. Farm assurance schemes are keen to see crops tested for potential residues to prevent chemicals being transferred to the food chain.

Discussing the UKAS accredited pesticide residue test for potatoes, Euro ns

Agro UK’s Sophie Cath, says: “The tests can be booked and paid for online, and results from samples that are sent directly to our laboratory take between three and four weeks.

“By using our tests, growers will receive vital data to ensure products are t for purpose and will be able to provide evidence to regulators and consumers that potatoes are safe by demonstrating that any residues present are below regulatory limits, or MRLs,” Miss Cath adds.

Kverneland Group acquires Phenix Agrosystem

Kverneland Group has signed an agreement to acquire 100% of the shares in French company BC Technique SAS, which produces the Phenix Agrosystem brand of interrow cultivators, rotary hoes, guidance interfaces and tine harrows.

This latest acquisition is a move that provides access to range of sustainable farming solutions, enabling growers to achieve e cient, accurate and consistent mechanical weed control.

While the Phenix brand will continue to be available in those markets where it currently exists, these premium products and solutions will be introduced as Kverneland products, available through the Kverneland dealer network.

The portfolio includes the Helios star-wheel equipped rotary hoe; Lynx guidance interface with colour scanning self-steering camera for use with any existing hoe; and the high-tech X-Green guidance interface solution that can be equipped with up to two

Väderstad aquires Thyregod A/S inter-row cultivators

Väderstad has acquired the parts of the Danish company Thyregod that produces a full product range of inter-row cultivators. The acquisition includes all intellectual property rights to Thyregod’s inter-row cultivator product area – the TRV range, including the Swingking. Väderstad will take over the responsibility for the inter-row cultivator business on 1st June.

“Our new and existing farmer customers will increasingly use inter-row crop cultivators and it is essential that we include them in our product range,” says Väderstad UK’s sales and marketing manager, Andy Gamble. “We have already identi ed that in the future many of our Tempo farmers will move to more mechanical solutions for weed control.

“As there is usually a challenge to match an inter-row cultivator to a seeding machine, Väderstad can now o er farmers a complete solution,” he says. “Adding an inter-row cultivator to our product range also optimises our future Proceed concept in cereals.” colour scanning self-steering cameras.

In addition, the product range includes the Onyx series of row-speci c tined hoes o ering working widths from 3–12m.

Product speci cations and pricing details are still to be announced, with the rst models expected to arrive during spring 2023.

Polaris UK adds Bruce Hopkins Ltd to its dealer network

Bruce Hopkins Ltd is the latest dealer to join the Polaris UK network, covering Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Buckinghamshire areas.

“The main reason we approached Polaris is because we know that they o er quality products and provide a wide range of options to suit all customers,” William Hopkins said. “We knew it was something that was missing from our range, and thanks to Polaris we are now able to o er a full range of products in the ATV and UTV market. We are also getting asked more and more about what electric products we can o er so with the launch of the Ranger XP Kinetic it will be a great draw for a lot of our customers.”

The new Polaris dealer will be o ering the full utility line-up – including Sportsman ATVs and Ranger UTV models. Bruce Hopkins also o ers full servicing and genuine Polaris parts and accessories. It currently has the Ranger Diesel and Sportsman 570 as part of their demo eet to introduce new customers to the Polaris brand so they can see what makes them so versatile.

Initially, the inter-row cultivators will be sold under the Thyregod brand, and manufactured in Thyregod’s production facilities in Denmark. From June 2024, they will carry the Väderstad brand and more details about this will be announced prior to Agritechnica 2023.

Global agriculture giants team up to reduce data fragmentation

Yara and Syngenta Group have entered into a partnership with Varda, a new ag-tech start-up founded by Yara. The two companies want to accelerate the adoption of Global Field ID; a new technology standard that helps facilitate eld data discovery and data sharing in the agriculture and food industry.

Varda digitally maps agricultural land and assigns unique IDs to land plots, creating a ‘QR code for elds’, delivered to users via an API. The aim of the service is to create a ‘common geospatial language’ for the whole industry.

For farmers, Global Field ID means improved connectivity between their digital farming tools and more e cient communication with stakeholders beyond the ‘farmgate’.

The service is currently available in France and the UK and will be progressively released in Brazil, the US and key European agricultural markets in 2023, with plans for further expansion in coverage and features going forward.