Goldacres weed system ready for rollout Lemken drill adds microgranule spreader Vic dealer Cervus Equipment in buyout

WEEDS

Goldacres’ weed detection system is ready for rollout after years of painstaking research

Data in place

Nearly two years of behind-the-scenes work has paid off for Victorian sprayer manufacturer Goldacres, with its weed detection system Weedetect evolving to a point where it can be rolled out successfully.

Designed for targeted weed spraying, the time-consuming work has been in building a database of weeds for the system to recognise and ultimately eliminate.

Goldacres’ sales and marketing operations manager Stephen Richards says Weedetect has the potential to allow ‘green on green’ spraying rather than just the traditional ‘green on brown’, which will allow the system to be used year-round.

“Traditional weed detecting cameras pick up chlorophyll, the green colour in plants, whereas you can’t run that system in crops because it would just pick up and spray everything that is green,” he says.

“This system is different – it’s an actual video camera that is feeding information back to the system about what is a weed that needs to be sprayed.

“It’s got the potential to do green-on-green spraying because it learns the algorithms and it has a heap of different images in its learning logic and says ‘this is what I need to spray’.

“You can spray green-on-brown and then later in the season spray green-on-green and the potential chemical saving with this system is just massive.”

ACQUISITION

‘Business as usual’ will continue across Cervus’s seven Victorian John Deere dealerships, the company’s Australian arm says

At your service

Canadian equipment supplier Cervus Equipment, which has seven dealerships across Victoria, is the subject of a takeover offer by fellow Canadian company Brandt.

Cervus has seven dealerships across Victoria: in Hamilton, Colac, Sunshine, Ballarat, Leongatha, Terang and Maffra. Aside from John Deere, they also distribute Kuhn, Hustler, Bogballe, Goldacres and Wacker Neuson-branded products.

Offering US$19.50 (A$26.80) per share in cash, it is estimated the total sum of the acquisition will be US$302 million (A$415 million) – excluding the Cervus shares Brandt already owns. This represents a 37 per cent premium to the 20-day volume-weighted average share price.

The arrangement agreement between the two suppliers is set to create one of the largest privately-held dealership groups in the world while also enhancing Cervus’ ability to execute on its strategy of delivering best-in-class equipment to its customers.

Entering into the arrangement agreement with Brandt was The Weedetect system can be fitted to Goldacres’ G6 Crop Cruiser sprayers

Weedetect is available as an option on Goldacres’ G6 Crop Cruiser and G8 Super Cruiser sprayers.

It involves 12 video cameras being positioned three metres apart, with 10 on the boom and one on either side of the front of the chassis.

These cameras are constantly looking 4m ahead, and an angled LED light can be fitted below each camera to allow for spraying at night or in poor light.

Richards says the development of Weedetect has been an ongoing process, with data having been acquired for between eight and 10 hours per day throughout the 10 weeks of the main crop cycle.

“The idea behind it works really well but it has to learn all these algorithms and to get enough information into the system to make it all work, you have to go through a whole life cycle of a crop and the weeds in the crop and get photos from every different angle,” he says.

“Different states and different countries have different weeds so we’ve had to teach the system about weeds grown in each area.

“It just takes time to get all the data to make the system accurate because you’ve really only got the growing season to do it.”

Rather than a glitzy launch ‘moment’, Goldacres is taking the slow and steady approach to the release of Weedetect.

“We don’t want to put a system out that a customer gets and is having trouble and they can’t get their dealer to support it,” says Richards.

“We want the customer to be looked after so we’ve got to make sure the dealer is trained before they can sell it.

“It’s probably a different approach but we are very adamant that we want to make sure the customers are supported properly so we want to make sure the dealers are properly trained.”

Enquiries can be made to Goldacres, and G6 and G8 sprayers are now available with Weedetect factory-fitted.

Future weeds added to the database will be available for existing users through software updates.

based on the unanimous recommendations from the Cervus board of directors following an extensive review into the company, which analysed what would be in the best interests of Cervus and its shareholders.

The review recommended the transaction represented ‘compelling value’ to Cervus shareholders. The deal also provided certainty of value and liquidity in that the transaction does not contain a financing condition and the consideration will be paid in cash.

Support from major original equipment manufacturers, such as John Deere Canada, has also been garnered while the CIBC Capital Markets has also provided a fairness opinion on the transaction, suggesting the agreement is ‘fair, from a financial point of view’.

Cervus chief executive and president Angela Lekatsas says the agreement will be beneficial for all involved.

“This transaction delivers tremendous value for our shareholders and clearly demonstrates the successful execution of our strategy,” says Lekatsas.

“As a private company with a committed, well-capitalised and long-term owner, Cervus will be better positioned for the next stage of evolutionary growth for our dealerships.

“The size and scale of the entity created by the combination of our two companies will allow for increased investment into Cervus for the benefit of our employees and customers.”

Like many arranged agreements, the transaction will be subject to shareholder approval whereby a two-third majority of all votes cast at a shareholder meeting must be in favour of the transaction.

The shareholder meeting is expected to take place in October this year and, if successful, the transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Cervus is a leading agriculture and transportation equipment provider across Canada, Australia and New Zealand and is the authorised representative for major brands including John Deere, Doosan and Clark.

A spokesperson from Cervus Australia indicated that it is just ‘business as usual’ until the shareholder approval meeting has been announced and the results are finalised. A key upgrade on the Lemken Azurit 10 is the addition of the MicroHub 5 microgranule spreader unit

DRILL

A new spreader unit, different row options and a furrow former have been incorporated in Lemken’s newest precision speed drill

Drill options

Arable farming specialist Lemken has released its latest precision speed drill – the Azurit 10 – which comes with new row variants and additional sowing capability.

The new Azurit 10 will be able to drill soybeans and sunflower seeds, in addition to the range of crops prior models were able to sow.

New rows are also a feature of the Azurit 10, which is now available with six- or 12-row spacings of 50cm as well as the proven four-, six- and eight-row variants with spacings of 70–80cm.

Among the many new upgrades made by Lemken on the Azurit 10 is the addition of the MicroHub 5; a spreader unit that allows microgranules to be applied in the direct vicinity of seeds.

Microgranules contain water-soluble nutrients that are rapidly available to plants, meaning the MicroHub 5 fosters excellent juvenile crop development, which Lemken says will be particularly important in cold, dry spring seasons.

Lemken head of design for precision seed drill technology Bernd Valtwies says the MicroHub 5 helps ensure fertiliser is distributed more efficiently, following increased public interest in the matter.

“We offer this option for our Azurit with up to eight rows,” he says.

“This unit is not only available for new machines. Depending on the year of manufacture of previous Azurit 9 machines, matching retrofit kits will be available. The system is controlled via the Azurit on-board terminal.

The MicroHub holds 200 litres of fertiliser, which can currently be applied at rates ranging from one to 40kg per hectare.

“The metering unit is operated electrically and granules are pneumatically delivered to the seed furrow. This is the ultimate in precision.”

Lemken says the initial nutrient requirements of the crops can be easily covered by even a small amount of microgranules.

To improve the quality of seed placement, a furrow former has been added to the seeding coulters while an updated drill pipe has also been installed and features an inlet that can be replaced once worn.

The Azurit 10 also offers automatic seed singling for maize, which is done through a system that monitors and adjusts the quality of single seeding. This automatic seed singling system can be retrofitted on older Lemken machines.