SOIL STRUCTURE CRUCIAL
Farmers waiting to cultivate and drill in the spring should be patient and not rush into the field, suggests Philip Wright, from Wright Resolutions, who presented the Soil Structure Clinic at LAMMA.
But they should put the ‘waiting time’ to good use and find out a bit more about the state of their farm’s drainage:
“Many visitors started talking about which tines they should be using and what disc angles to use for spring work, but actually they need to go back a step.
“The first thing I would suggest anyone does is check how well their drainage system is working, because that may help them detect whether they have a problem and how serious it is.
“Very little land is trafficable at the moment, so they do have time to do this.. In many fields water is lying on the surface or in tramlines, yet the drain outfalls and the dykes are hardly running.
“That’s a clear sign of compaction somewhere, be it a plough or disc pan or generally poor porosity. You must investigate it and detect how widespread and deep the problem is before considering the best way to tackle and correct it.
“What you do when you can get onto the land depends on the seriousness of the problem and the soil type, and that’s a decision that needs to be made on a field by field basis.
“One bright point is that – if the surface is wet but the subsoil is drier – you might not have to wait too long this spring for the sub-soil to dry out enough to be workable.
“People who have got their soil structure in good order report that crops are growing well because their roots are not water-logged. Those who have paid attention to detail in the past are earning their reward!”
Philip Wright highlights tine choice issues to a visitor
TRIO CLOCK UP 20 YEARS’ SERVICE
Great Plains’ Sleaford factory is benefitting from the presence of a large number of long-serving staff, believes Managing Director Colin Adams.
Three of the longest serving workers at the Sleaford factory have been presented with watches to mark their 20 years’ service to the company.
Mick Cormack originally joined the company as a welder, before managing one of the satellite production plants the company used to run. After a period with another engineering manufacturer, he returned to Sleaford in 1991, initially as a welder but working his way up to his current position as Production Manager of the company’s original production plant.
Ian Hooton initially joined the company’s After Sales & Service Department before moving into fabrication and then the Design and Development department, where he played a key role in the development of the Freeflow drill. He is now R & D Product Specialist.
Mark Dolby spent a couple of years in the company’s stores and two more in production planning, experience gained in both roles proving very valuable when he moved into the sales department, where he is now Sales Administration Manager.
In addition these three staff, another seven colleagues chalked up 15 years’ service during the year, while a further nine marked 10 years, each of them receiving a food hamper:
“One important factor of these presentations is that the recipients come from all parts of the company. Having such a wide spread of experience is really valuable”, says Colin, who – with 19 years’ service himself – is currently looking forward to presenting himself with an award next year!
Colin Adams congratulates Mark Dolby, Mick Cormack and Ian Hooton
ROLLERS’ EURO DEBUT AT SIMA
The new range of rollers for fitting behind Great Plains’ Simba mounted cultivators will be featured on the company’s stand at SIMA, being held in Paris from February 24th to 28th February (Hall 5a/Stand G002).
The show will also mark the show debut in the country of the DTX with auto-reset of the deeper working tines, as well as the new smaller SLD models and Great Plains’ YP825A maize planter.
Both developments are expected to open up fresh markets for the company’s products, say Simon Revell, Exports Director for Western Europe:
“They will help Great Plains’ Simba models meet the needs of farmers working a huge range of soils and using many different styles of cultivation.
“Our ethos of providing effective consolidation behind all machines remains paramount, however we realise from experience that it takes time for growers to fully appreciate the importance of a well consolidated seedbed.
“The new rollers expand our consolidation offer beyond the DD ring and Aqueel, and means Great Plains and enable us to offer rollers that consolidate to the needs of farmers and soil types in many markets.
“They will reduce the weight and price of our models, enabling them to be moved and used behind smaller tractors, while also making them very price competitive”.
Pierre-Arnaud Noiret, Territory Manager for France, predicts significant interest from French farmers at the show:
“In field trials across France last autumn the new rollers showed their ability to leave a levelled but not firmly consolidated finish to the seed-bed, which is what many farmers in France are looking for.
“The DD and DD Lite rollers remain very popular in selected areas of France where they have stronger and heavier soil types. But those rollers are over-aggressive on many of our lighter soils, which is where these rollers will prove popular”.
Rolling in choices, as our new display stand shows.
Craig Thomson discusses the expanded roller choice with a farmer.
RESEARCH REACHES TOP AUDIENCE
Great Plains’ research work on oilseed rape establishment was presented to two notable audiences in the Czech Republic by Simon Revell, Western European Exports Director, at two seminars.
The first was at the University of Life Sciences’ Agricultural School in Prague, where he addressed an audience including scientists, students and members of the Czech Republic’s Oilseed Rape Growers Association.
The second seminar was attended by an invited audience including growers, many of whom produce crops for Agrifert, a major agricultural/industrial company, which goes into bio-diesel and cooking oil which the company refines:
“The presentations will be called “Soil – the basis for effective farming”, and I will be addressing a range of issues.
“One of those is how using single-pass techniques can save much of the cost, labour and time over conventional establishment methods.
“The majority of growers are using conventional methods to establish the crop. Research conducted by Agrifert has shown that using the one pass system with Great Plains’ equipment has produced yield improvements and cost reduction similar to those achieved in regions further North. Their results are supported by those achieved by early adopters of the system in the Czech Republic”.
Simon Revell
