It’s hard to keep up with all the new machines and equipment being introduced for 2020. There were plenty of them on display at the recent British Turf Management Exhibition (BTME) in Harrogate and the Agritechnica trade fair last November in Hanover, Germany. Many new electric vehicles have come on the market and they seem to be the buzz word at the moment.

The growing season is not too far away and soon farmers, contractors and groundsmen will be getting their equipment in order for the busy weeks ahead. Some will venture into purchasing new machines, so dealers will be busy stocking their premises up with the latest equipment, in the anticipation of new orders. This will mean delivering them to the customer’s premises and demonstrating how they work.

With that in mind dealers have a responsibility of care when delivering machinery to clients. When showing them how the equipment works they should inform them of the dangers and risks associated with machinery, the usual things like making sure pto shafts are guarded; not wearing loose clothing, using earmuffs when operating machines and so on. Time should be allocated by the dealer rep to highlight all dangers.

I mention this on foot of the recent findings by the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) on fatalities in the workplace. Sadly the number of deaths in 2019 rose to 46, which is an increase of 18% from 2018. Of these, 18 were farm related, making it the most dangerous sector. It was also noted that machinery related accidents were the highest cause of fatalities (19), which also includes the construction sector. Incidentally, Co. Wexford recorded 7 work related deaths, making it the highest number in any county.

HSA chief executive Dr. Sharon McGuiness said, after the release of the report “Most workplace deaths are preventable and that fatal incidents generally occur when shortcuts are taken, but the mentality of placing people’s lives in peril in the race to finish a job – or save money- needs to stop. Lives depend on it.”

Dealers should also look at their own work premises to assess danger. It is compulsory that an annual review of the company Safety Statement is carried out. The statement must be based on a risk assessment carried out every year on your workplace. It should include risks to your employees as well as to your customers.

You should tailor it to any specific risks identified. Near misses should also be recorded in the Safety Statement. What that means is if an incident occurred but no injuries happened, that incident must be recorded. For example if a heavy object fell off a high shelf and landed beside someone causing no harm, that must be noted and, more importantly, steps taken not to allow it to happen again. Next time someone could be in the path of the falling object.

God forbid, but if a serious accident were to occur on your premises, and you did not have a completed and updated Safety Statement, when the HSA visit to investigate the accident, you could find yourself in serious trouble.

Let 2020 be a safe and profitable year for you.

Following a strategic reorganisation of John Deere’s professional turf business in Europe, Brian D’Arcy has been appointed as turf division sales manager for the company’s newly created Region 2 Sales Division 1.

This covers the UK and Ireland plus additional key markets in Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland.

L-R: Brian D’Arcy, Joanne Gregory and Richard Charleton

Brian is a graduate of Tralee Institute of Technology in Ireland, where he gained a degree in Agricultural Engineering Management. He joined John Deere Limited at Langar, Nottingham in July 2007 as a tractor sales demonstration instructor, before being promoted to the role of crop systems specialist in 2009 and then later that same year to agricultural territory manager for Wales and the West Midlands, a position he held until July 2014.

Below you can watch Laurence Gale, who contributes to our UK version of Service Dealer, interview Brian at the recent BTME exhibition.

Brian then became UK and Ireland strategic account manager for turf and other non-agricultural products, before moving to Deere’s European HQ in Mannheim, Germany in October 2018 as Region 2 product manager for compact and utility tractors.

As a result of the structural changes, Richard Charleton has been promoted to a new additional strategic account manager position for golf and turf covering the UK and Ireland, alongside Michael Grey (who replaced Brian D’Arcy in this role in 2018). Alongside this responsibility, Richard is also taking on the position of John Deere Limited turf territory manager for Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Richard is a graduate of Rycotewood College in the UK, where he gained a higher national certificate in Agricultural Engineering. He joined John Deere in January 1991 as a sales demonstration instructor for the UK and Ireland, before being promoted to the role of turf area service manager for both countries in 1994. Richard then became turf territory manager for Scotland and the north of England in 1996, a position he has held until this latest promotion.

Following his appointment, Joanne Gregory (above centre) has replaced Richard Charleton as John Deere Limited’s new turf territory manager for Scotland and the north of England. Joanne is a graduate of Harper Adams University, where she gained a BSc (Hons) in Agricultural Business Management, and she spent her student placement year with the marketing team at Langar.

Before joining John Deere full-time, Joanne worked for leading chartered surveyors and specialist property consultants Fisher German LLP. Joanne started at Langar in May 2019 as product sales specialist for homeowner equipment, liaising with and supporting the UK and Ireland dealer network.

The 2020 Future of Farming Expo presented by Kverneland Group Ireland represented the company’s 5th showing of the event.

As before the event took place at The Hub, Cillin Hill, Kilkenny on the 13th of February where the latest developments from the Kverneland, Vicon, Siloking and McConnel brands were on show. The Expo follows on from the recent Agritechnica Show in Germany where Kverneland Group showed new machines for the first time along with new features and updates to its current range of machines.

Some of the equipment on display at the Kverneland Future of Farming Expo 2020

Looking at the Arable sector Kverneland Group Ireland are introducing the new DTX subsoiler and the new Enduro cultivator to the Irish market. The DTX is a solution for deep soil loosening and stubble cultivation in one pass, saving time and money while improving soil structure.

Attendees registering at the Future of Farming Expo 2020

Kverneland DTX
Designed as a mounted one-pass stubble incorporator/soil loosener for tractors in the 200-360hp range, the DTX is extremely versatile. It can be used for first entry with non-inversion tillage or to knock down ploughing whilst loosening down to 40cm. It is also ideally suited to establishing oilseed rape straight into stubble as it leaves a very levelled, fine and consolidated seedbed.

Kverneland Enduro
The Enduro is a versatile cultivator that can be used for both shallow stubble cultivation as well as deeper cultivation up to 35cm.

The Enduro/Enduro Pro with a well-organised tine arrangement over 3 rows of tines has been designed to ensure mixing and intensive cultivation even with long residues. The tine spacing is 285mm on rigid and 270mm/275mm on the folding versions; the tine position has been optimised to ensure a smooth flow and an optimum mixing of the soil.

Kverneland e-drill MAXI Plus Grain & Fertiliser
The new e-drill Maxi Plus Grain and Fertiliser will also feature, which is especially adapted where fertilising and seeding in one pass is required.

Kverneland has extended the model range of power harrow mounted seed drills by the combined grain and fertiliser version of the e-drill maxi plus. The e-drill maxi plus is designed for the needs of the European markets where a growing proportion of cereal is sown in spring and the application of a mixture of different seeds in one step is required.

In order to balance the shorter vegetation phase, the fertiliser application supports the initial germination and development of the plants in the most efficient way. In trials of spring sown crops, yields have shown increases up to 25% compared to crops where the fertiliser has been applied by other methods.

Kverneland Group Ireland was more than happy with the turnout. Close on 2000 attended. There were lots of new machinery for the tillage farmer on view. The event represented a golden opportunity for customers to get up close to touch and feel all that Kverneland machinery offered all under the one roof.

On the 30th January, 150 service staff representing Massey Ferguson dealers from all over the United Kingdom and Ireland gathered at the Heart of England Conference and Event Centre near Birmingham, for a Massey Ferguson Service Experience.

In the first event of its kind, service technicians were able to receive product updates and service information from the UK Massey Ferguson service team and AGCO product experts. The format involved groups of 20 technicians rotating around several workstations, with product and parts displays available, along with presentations on the company's latest innovations.

Michael Butland, Massey Ferguson field service manager said, "We wanted to deliver the latest service information to technicians who are the key interface between our product and our customers. It’s important that they are up to speed with the latest diagnostic techniques and service information in order to minimise any potential downtime which is all important to the end user".

Will Giles from MF sealership Lister Wilder said, “Thank you to Massey Ferguson for an excellent event - the information provided to our technicians has already been put into action”.

The conference was all part of the initiative for Massey Ferguson to work closer to their dealer network and customers, with future events already being planned.

Peter O’Brien Landscaping & Sons, one of Ireland’s leading landscape and sports ground companies, has invested in a large fleet of Pellenc battery powered equipment.

Peter O’Brien Landscaping & Sons, founded in 1963, is a family run business, which has rapidly grown over recent years. The company, which specialises in design, construction and maintenance, has gained widespread plaudits for its quality of work and recently scooped the prestigious Landscape Contractor of the Year and Sports Turf Contractor of the Year awards for 2019.

With over 100 members of staff and a huge arsenal of green space management equipment at its disposal, Andy Jones, Maintenance Supervisor for Peter O’Brien’s, believes that the company has a responsibility to manage the impact the tools are having on the environment.

“We are always conscious at looking at our carbon footprint,” he says. “It is massive for us – particularly as we look towards the future. There is no point in us creating beautiful wildflower meadows and putting in pollinator plants when we are using petrol and diesel machinery – it just seems to defeat the purpose.”

The company soon embarked on an extensive search to identify a new fleet of battery powered equipment, and as Andy explains, no stone was left unturned in their quest.

“Electric machinery is a huge trend nowadays and we felt it was imperative to purchase the very best we could find on the marketplace. We conducted a huge amount of research over a three-month period. We carefully read product specifications, spoke to end users and attended SALTEX in order to pinpoint the leading manufacturers.

“We soon concluded that the Pellenc products are quite simply at the very top of the game.”

Pellenc products have recently become more accessible in the Republic of Ireland after Camsaw Ltd, a County Laois based business, was announced as the country’s exclusive distributor for Pellenc. Camsaw work with a widespread network of dealers to extend the reach of Pellenc, and it was one of these dealers - Leinster Turf Equipment, that Andy first contacted.

“We spoke to Leinster Turf Equipment about the Pellenc products and they conducted a demonstration at one of our sites in Dublin. It turned out to be our first purchase with Leinster and it must be said that it is a great company to work with. The staff are very friendly and helpful, and, in my opinion, it gives you faith in the products and service even more when you are dealing with a professional company.”

After being hugely impressed with the demonstration, the decision was made to purchase a large fleet of Pellenc battery powered equipment which included a range of Rasion Basic pushmowers, Excelion 2000 brushcutters, Helion 2 Compact hedge trimmers, Helion Telescopic hedge trimmers, Airion 2 hand blowers and Selion polesaws – all powered by 1500 ultra-lithium batteries.

“We spread the Pellenc products between residential sites and the city centre in Dublin and then we have another fleet on two big commercial sites,” Andy continues.

“Ultimately, the feedback from everyone within the company is that we should have done this sooner. From the weight of the product, the finish of the product, the lack of noise pollution and the most important thing, and this is where Pellenc blew everyone else out of the water, is the battery times. We can easily get a full day’s work out of these products and we don’t have to worry about the hassle of charging them while on a job.

“The Pellenc products have also increased productivity – particularly in the city centre and the residential areas. Before we had these products, it used to be a case of the staff members sitting in the yard until 8am before they could get into these highly populated areas. However, now we can get to the sites at 7am and we are not waking people up or disturbing anyone. This has been a huge benefit.

“The quality of the work is outstanding, and it reflects what we, as a company are about, in offering a service of the highest standard.

“This has been our first taster of green technology, and it has been so good that we are rolling this out even further next year. The conversation has been had with the directors and very soon all of the vans will be kitted out with Pellenc equipment.”

Claas has opened a new €20 million extension to its central Part Logistics Centre at Hamm, Germany.

The management of Claas Service and Parts and Stute Logistics, Thomas Hunsteger-Petermann (Lord Mayor of the City of Hamm), Bernd Ludewig (Group Executive Board) and Cathrina-Claas Mühlhäuser welcomed the guests to the opening of the high-bay warehouse

The new high-bay warehouse is nearly 30m high and accommodates a fully automatic high rack system with space for around 58,000 pallets.

The Parts Logistics Centre employs around 500 people and the new extension now gives it a pick rate capacity of up to 320 parts per hour - a doubling of the previous capacity.

"With this investment we are preparing the Parts Logistics Center for further growth of the Claas Group," said Dietmar Düsing, head of logistics at Claas Service and Parts. "Not only will the expansion create additional warehouse space, it will also allow us to restructure warehouse processes from the bottom up. All of this is done with a focus on fulfilling the high standards of our customers with regard to our spare parts service."

A major Chinese garden machinery fair has been forced to reschedule and change venue due to the Coronavirus outbreak in the country.

The 2020 Asia Forest & Garden Equipment & Tools Fair (GMF 2020) was originally slated for March 16-18 2020 at Guangzhou International Sourcing Centre. 

Organisers say that the show has been resheduled for May 11-13 2020, at Hall 3 - Hall 4, Guangzhou Poly World Trade Centre Expo.

A statement issued by the GMF Organising Committee said, "Your safety and health is our top priority. Right now the virus has been well contained on a national scale with everyday new cases decreasing on a daily basis, and even during the epidemic, we will continue to do our best to prepare the show for another successful year.

"We believe under the co-efforts of China and the international community, we will soon win the battle against this virus. Please feel safe to attend the show this May!"

The Outdoor Power Equipment Institute (OPEI) is giving one lucky reader plus their guest, the chance to visit GIE+EXPO, the international landscape, outdoor living, and equipment show in Louisville, USA, in October 2020.

The winner of this amazing free to enter competition, who must currently work at a dealership, will win two tickets to the show as well as travel to the US, transfers and accommodation.

SUPPORTED BY

Between the 21st-23rd October, GIE+EXPO will showcase the hottest products and technological innovations in the global outdoor power equipment industry - and you could be immersed in the latest developments plus be able to network with peers from across the world.

Throughout the three days you will be able to visit over 1000 exhibitors across the showfloor. There is even 20 acres of outdoor space for demonstrations and test-driving, so you can put the equipment through its paces.

You’ll also be able to attend a raft of insightful seminars aimed at boosting your efficiency and bottom line.

This really is an incredible opportunity to get away from the business for a few days and to come back with a wealth of new ideas from across the globe.

To enter the competition and for full terms and conditions click here.