GREAT PROGRESS – AND MORE TO COME
Great Plains has enjoyed unprecedented progress during 2013 – both in terms of the development of its Sleaford factory and in developing its markets across Europe and the rest of the world.
The development work completed at the Sleaford factory has come into its own this year, says Colin Adams, Managing Director, and is helping the plant maintain fresh production levels which are essential to servicing its growing UK and European markets:
“2013 has seen the Sleaford factory running at full capacity virtually all year, both to keep up with demand for Simba brand products to meet both domestic and export demand, and also enabling us to produce Great Plains' Field Cultivators for the Russian and Eastern European markets.
“On the engineering and design, side, the pace has also been fast, with the new market entry models and related rollers range being launched in the first half of the year, and the new European Yield-Pro planter and revived 4B discs making their debuts at Agritechnica.
“The development in facilities has been mirrored in recruitment of staff to fill key posts throughout the factory, and we now have a bigger and more multi-skilled team than ever”.
On the export side, there has been development both at Sleaford and in the markets themselves, says Simon Revell, European Exports Director:
“To ensure we continue to offer a high level of support as our business grows across a range of key markets we are recruiting staff with the relevant range of technical and language skills, both to work in the markets themselves but also for roles in the support team based at the factory.
“Expansion of our business in our target markets has been boosted by our presence at Agritechnica, where we showed the widest range of Great Plains' machines ever exhibited at that event, which has generated great interest from potential dealers and customers across a range of territories, and we will be looking to further build our presence in these markets in the new year”.
Meanwhile the company has a healthy UK order book, says David Holmes, UK Sales Director:
“We ran a very successful Early Order campaign in the autumn, and have an encouraging level of orders and interest, and look forward to building on that during the spring, especially when our dealers have many demonstrations booked”.
LAMMA: COME AND DISCUSS AGRONOMY
Great Plains will present the latest news on a wide range of its agronomic research when it exhibits at LAMMA 2014 (Stand No R13), which we feel bound to remind you is being held at the East of England Showground, Peterborough, on Wednesday 22nd and Thursday 23rd 2014.
At the event we will display the latest results from its wide range of its practical research into soil structure and practical crop production, says David Holmes, UK Sales Director:
“We always aim to provide our customers with more than just a machine, and are currently involved in a range of trials designed to help users make best use of their investment.
“Our work with crops like oilseed rape has included determining the best way to establish the crop in one pass; the role that fertiliser placed in the seedbed can play and the potential of sowing companion crops between the oilseed rape rows.
“This year we are also testing the Great Plains Yield-Pro planter, to see whether sowing oilseeds in the patented Twin-Row arrangement achieves any yield improvements. Latest results from this and other projects will be presented at the event”.
LAMMA: FIELD CULTIVATOR ON SHOW
Great Plains will show its US-designed Field Cultivator, which is already popular across a range of export markets in Eastern Europe, at LAMMA 2014.
The Field Cultivator is a high-capacity finishing tool which completes a shallow cultivation and removes weeds/regrowth to finish seedbeds, leaving them level and ready for drilling.
Twenty models are available at widths between 23 and 60 feet (7.00 and 18.3 metres), with models up to 39 feet (11.9m) being built in three sections, while larger models are constructed in five sections.
They feature four lines of shanks, behind which purchasers can choose a wide combination of finishing harrow and reel.
Shanks in the same row are 71 cms apart, that gap enabling the machine to handle considerable trash volumes. They can be fitted with 254 mm or 280 mm wide sweep feet – which can be ‘hard faced' if the purchaser requires.
These shanks overlap by several inches, so the entire seedbed is moved at least once, with soil being returned to its original position so the machine leaves a well levelled surface that is ready for drilling with no further work.
Typical working depth is between two to four inches, for which the company recommends its K-Flex minimum draft/flat shank, which has 185lbs trip force. Maximum working depth is around 125 mm. The company recommends its heavier duty Magnum (sprung loaded) shank (205lbs point trip force) for stony conditions as it allows more trip clearance.
The implement is available with either a constant level hitch – suitable for working level ground – or a floating hitch, which allows it to move independently of the tractor and maintain consistent working depth on undulating ground.
SERRATED DISCS ON TEST
Great Plains will be testing a new style of cultivation disc on selected machines this season, with a view to offering it as an option in the future.
The 6mm disc are available in 500mm and 560mm diameter, and feature a sharp serrated edge and could prove valuable in various UK and European conditions says Ben Covell, Product Development Manager:
“The serrated edge self-sharpens, in the way a serrated knife does, and so stays sharp. We think this type of disc has potential for working in heavy trash conditions, such as rotations that include maize or potatoes.
“We will try them on a range of our disc cultivators this season to assess their performance”.
SOIL SECRETS IN SPOTLIGHT
European farmers are the latest to show interest in Great Plains' concept of Vertical Tillage, following its presentation on the company's stand at Agritechnica, and other presentations by importers and dealers across the continent.
Simon Revell, European Exports Director, says farmers across Europe continue to seek advice on how to sustain their farms' productivity and they are increasingly focussing on soil structure:
“Great Plains' original concept of Vertical Tillage has proved highly successful across the United States, and when we first discussed it we realised it was very similar to the principles that we were already advocating to our Great Plains UK customers.
“The same principles that American farmers are using to ensure healthy yields of crops like soya beans and maize work equally well with the main crops grown in Europe.
“From both sides of the Atlantic – and even before Great Plains purchased Simba – it is clear we were both urging farmers to think about working the soil vertically, so you don't leave horizontal horizons where the soil density changes suddenly in the seed-bed, as these can inhibit natural soil functions like the movement of moisture, nutrients and crop roots.
“The aim is to create the vertical cracks and fissures that assist these processes, so water-logging and ponding is avoided during wet times, but the crop can also seek out moisture when it needs to in dry conditions.
“With soil structure problems inhibiting crop production on many farms across the continent, its message is timely and relevant, and will feature prominently in the company's exhibitions stands and marketing activities in the future”.
UNIPRESS ANSWERS MULTIPLE PROBLEMS
Working across a huge variety of soil types, Northern Ireland contractor Ryan Boggs needs a cultivation system that is flexible enough to deal with them all.
And while the provinces high rainfall means the plough is his primary cultivator, he is keen to improve the efficiency and output of his system to achieve more timely and cost effective crop establishment.
The business is based at his 600 acre Gorthill Farm, Eglinton, a few miles East of Londonderry, and Ryan's company works another 3,000 acres on farms in the region.
After ploughing and pressing they previously used a set of Cambridge rolls to work down seedbeds, but have added a Great Plains' Simba UniPress to their armoury:
“The Cambridge rolls with a levelling board are a bit of a ‘one trick pony'. They are the right machine for our own soils at home and some of the lighter land we work. But they struggled on the heavier types and where we have to work with stones, where we needed something stronger.
“We have used a power harrow to break down and level the heavier soils, but the UniPress consolidates very well, firms the seedbed better and leaves several inches of tilth into which we can drill”.
This year's crops are looking well, he says, and he expects the system should work equally well in the spring: “We expect we will be able to plough, work the seedbed down and drill on the same day”.
