Smart dealers are always looking for new and innovative ways of connecting with their local community of existing and potential customers.

Running your own open day is a tried and tested means. Another route, with a potentially higher profile already in-built, would be to get involved with an established event which is happening in the local area such as a county show. 

Similar to this, an idea this year could be to perhaps get involved with an event which has a growing reputation and profile nationally, but which takes place across the country at a local level - Open Farm Sunday.

Hundreds of farms all over the country will open their gates for this LEAF organised event on the 10th June – and the organisers are very keen to encourage specialist dealers, both agricultural and groundcare, to get involved.

As the farming industry’s annual open day, the event offers a chance for the public to discover real farming at first hand and see for themselves how their food is produced.

The organisers are advising specialist dealers to find out which of their local farms are participating this year and to team up to play a part on the day. If your local farmer hasn't signed up yet, say LEAF, why not get in touch with them to see if they are interested in doing so?

Having a stand or a presence at an Open Farm Sunday event contributes to the overall intent of the day, educating the public regarding all aspects of how farming works. Being involved will illustrate how the specialist dealer services the farming community. It will also put your name clearly in front of members of your local community who demonstrably have an interest in the land-based sector.

Speaking at the Service Dealer Conference last November, Caroline Drummond, chief executive of LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming), said, “After 12 years, Open Farm Sunday has grown hugely, with thousands visiting farms across the UK. There is scope for dealers to get involved, to help provide an insight into how agriculture works and show the technology involved in modern farming.

“This helps educate the public and catch the imagination of children. Inspiring them early tends to capture their interest for life.”

It seems that Open Farm Sunday could represent an excellent opportunity for dealers to raise their profile locally. The organisers would argue that the more involved one gets, the greater the potential rewards.

Since the event began in 2006 over 1600 farmers across the UK have opened their gates and welcomed 2 million people onto their farm for one Sunday each year - with 273,000 of those visiting in 2017 alone.

Annabel Shackleton, LEAF Open Farm Sunday Manager said, “We know from what visitors tell us how important LEAF Open Farm Sunday is in helping them understand the realities of farming and how it impacts on their lives. Last year, one in five visitors were doing so for the first time and 86% told us they learned something new. So we’re calling on everyone to support LEAF Open Farm Sunday 2018 - it offers a perfect platform for everyone to shine a light on what they deliver and why supporting British farming matters.”

In addition to helping grow the public’s understanding of British farming, many farmers make the most of the day by fundraising for charity. In 2017, it was estimated that more than £80,000 was raised at events for charities such as Air Ambulance, RABI, cancer charities, as well as local schools and churches. For dealers to have their names attached to this positive local involvement is surely priceless publicity?

To find out more about where Open Farm Sunday events are happening close to you, visit the website.

Service Dealer has learned that Dave Roberts has left his position as Managing Director of Kubota (U.K.) Limited to take the position of CEO Hitachi Construction Machinery (Europe) NV, located in Newcastle Upon Tyne - as of 1 April 2018.

Dave Roberts on the Kubota stand at SALTEX 2016

In a statement a spokesperson for Kubota said, "On behalf of Kubota Corporation, we would like to thank David for his significant contribution to the business in both the UK and Europe over the years and we wish him well for the future.

“Mr. Kazunari Shimokawa, the President of Kubota Europe and Executive Vice President of the European Tractor Business Unit, has been appointed as the interim Managing Director of Kubota (U.K.) Limited with immediate effect.”

Dave Roberts said of his move, "I’m really excited to be joining Hitachi. My new role will not only allow me to expand on my own experience, but also build on the incredible success that the retiring John Jones and the experienced HCMUK team have enjoyed in the past."

Dave Roberts has had a long association with Kubota. Following 21 years of service, he left the company in 2010 to join dealers Farol Ltd as Operations Director. He spent two years at Farol before returning to Kubota in 2012 as Sales and Marketing General Manager, to head up their three product sectors - Construction, Engines and Tractor & Groundcare.

In May 2013 he was appointed Managing Director, the first UK national to hold that position, responsible for heading up all UK operations.

Service Dealer would like to wish Dave all the very best with his future endeavours. 

Manitou has announced the appointment of Mark Ormond as Managing Director of Manitou UK Ltd.

Mark Ormond

The company says Mark brings significant experience in the management of capital equipment suppliers in the UK and ROI, specifically within the agricultural sector.

Most recently he was Managing Director of the UK subsidiary of SAME Deutz-Fahr which sells and supports SAME tractors and Deutz-Fahr tractors and combines throughout the UK and Republic of Ireland. He has previously managed UK subsidiaries of other leading European manufacturers, and has spent time in the dealer side of the industry. He is the current President (2017-2018) of the Agricultural Engineers Association.

“I am delighted to join Manitou and look forward to working with the team, and with our dealer network, to continue the great success of the brand in the UK and Irish market,” says Mark. “My background is agriculture but I look forward to learning about the construction and industrial sectors, and to seeing how I can add value to this highly successful company”.

Returning to the Oxford Belfrey Hotel this November, the Service Dealer Conference & Awards will once again benefit from Husqvarna UK as a Gold Sponsor.

Husqvarna’s UK Sales & Marketing Director, Ken Brewster presenting the Garden Machinery Dealer of the Year Award to Chris Garlick of Garlick Garden Machinery at the 2017 event

The date of this year's event has been confirmed as Thursday November 15th. 

Husqvarna’s UK Sales & Marketing Director, Ken Brewster said, “The Service Dealer Conference and Awards is an investment into the infrastructure and future development of the dealer network in the UK. Husqvarna are very pleased to be supporting this initiative.”

Service Dealer owner Duncan Murray-Clarke said, "We are delighted to welcome back Husqvarna UK once again to the Service Dealer Conference & Awards.

"Having Husqvarna on board for what proposes to be a very special event, in this the magazine's 30th anniversary year, is great news."

Further details about this year's Service Dealer Conference & Awards will be announced in due course.

As previously reported, the total number of agricultural tractors (power over 50hp) registered for road use in 2017 was 12,033. This was 13.5% higher than in 2016. 

The AEA have now broke those registrations down by power band and region. 

Stephen Howarth, Agricultural Economist for the AEA said, "As has been apparent all year, most of the growth in tractor registrations during 2017 came in the middle of the power range, with more than two-thirds of the additional machines being between 140 and 200hp. There was also further growth in the high-power end of the market but only a modest increase for lower-powered machines, between 50 and 140hp. There was good growth in the number of tractors below 50hp (not included in the total figure above or the regional analysis below), though, where registrations were up 22%, at 1,735."

Continuing the historic trend, the average power of tractors over 50hp registered during 2017 rose to 162.2hp, up from 158.3hp in 2016. The total power sold was just over 2 million hp, for the first time since 2012, when machines below 50hp are included.

Stephen Howarth continued, "Figures on the regional distribution of tractor registrations show fairly consistent growth across most of the English regions. With the exception of the small Home Counties/London and North East regions, all parts of England saw increases of between 12% and 22%, with no obvious bias towards livestock or arable regions.

"Outside England it was a more mixed picture, however, with growth in Scotland, albeit slower than in England at 10%, little change in Northern Ireland and a small decline in Welsh registrations. This may reflect the importance of grazing livestock farming in these parts of the UK and the greater uncertainty faced by this sector after Brexit, particularly for sheep farmers."

The Dairy-Tech event, which was billed as a day 'tailored for the new generation of dairy farmer, manager and technician', took place on Wednesday this week (Feb 7th) at Stoneleigh Park, Coventry.

Phill Brooks, Dealer Manager at Kubota UK (left) was supported on the manufacturer's stand by dealers JJ Farm Services and GEO Browns

Service Dealer owner Duncan Murray-Clarke attended. He writes:

"A brimming car par at this year’s Dairy-Tech signified the popularity of this event.

"It seems that this industry is on the up at the moment which is a sentiment certainly reflected by the exhibitors and attendees I spoke to.

"On the Kubota stand in the outside area I talked to Phill Brooks, Dealer Manager at Kubota UK. He said that the dairy industry suits them well with main demand for scraper and loader tractors.

"Kubota seem to be really making inroads into the ag sector over the last year or so and it was interesting that they were the only tractor manufacturer at this ag sector event. They were also supported on the stand by two local dealers - JJ Farm Services and GEO Browns.

"Finding specific sector areas that suits your product or service is certainly one way to evolve your business and making the effort and investment seems to be paying off for Kubota and their dealer base."

The Toro Company has announced a 'strategic minority equity investment' in GreenSight Agronomics, a Boston, Massachusetts based provider of analysis drones for turfgrass and agricultural markets.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

“As the golf industry expands its efforts to improve play and more efficiently use water, the application and advancement of technology will play a vital role,” said Philip Burkart, vice president of The Toro Company’s Irrigation and Lighting Businesses. “We are intrigued and see great potential to align with GreenSight Agronomics to apply their technologies and analytics with our water management expertise to further provide our customers with the best solutions."

GreenSight Agronomics' patent-pending system combines automated drones and sensors, providing thermal mapping and detection analytics to help golf course professionals improve turf health. The technology enables customers to identify issues before they become visible, and achieve better outcomes with less water, fertiliser and pesticide use.

"GreenSight is redefining precision agriculture by packaging automated drones, custom sensors and machine learning into a turn-key service. We are excited to partner with The Toro Company to deliver customers the ultimate in irrigation management technology for golf courses and beyond,” added James Peverill, CEO of GreenSight Agronomics.

The shortlist for Allett’s Pitch To Play competition has been announced.

Three teams have fought off stiff competition from many other clubs all vying to win a brand new Allett lawnmower and expert advice from the Institute of Groundsmanship (IOG) to help them maintain their pitch and improve their club’s prospects for the future.

Hambledon FC

The three clubs are Hambledon FC in Surrey, Young Elites FC in Sheffield and St Day Youth and Sports Association in Cornwall.

Teams entered across a variety of sports including cricket, football, hockey rugby, bowls, croquet, tennis, lacrosse, rounders, golf and even, the lesser known, stoolball! Allett was overwhelmed by the amount of entries it received in the competition and the number of amateur groundsmen who are working away with incredibly limited resources.

Leigh Bowers, sales director at Allett, said, “We were shocked to see some of the pitches that some teams are having to work with; it really reiterated to us just what a great job amateur groundsteams and volunteers do. It was a tough decision, but these three teams really stood out to us.”

Pitch to Play was launched by Allett in co-operation with the IOG to find the amateur pitch that is most in need of a makeover and will award the chosen club with some top of the range groundskeeping equipment as used at higher level Stadiums.

The winning team will receive £3,000 to be used on the purchase of a new Allett lawnmower to help maintain the pitch to a more professional higher level. The runner up will win £500 towards the club kitty and third place will win £250. All prize winners will also receive a tailor-made maintenance programme from the IOG to help maintain the pitch for the future, along with a new kit and pitch side sponsorship.

The winner and final results will be announced later in the year.

Irish manufacturer of agricultural equipment, Abbey Machinery, has joined forces with dealers CLAAS Southern.

Pictured at LAMMA 2018 are Clodagh Cavanagh, Managing Director of Abbey; Michael O’Grady, Sales, Marketing & Business Development Manager, Abbey; Russell Hallam and Thomas Hancock of CLAAS Southern and Ross Gibbon, South UK Sales Rep, Abbey

This new partnership follows on from the successful co-operation with CLAAS Western which commenced last year.

“We had been looking for a like-minded partner in Kent, East and West Sussex and Surrey so we could get closer to customers and develop relationships with new customers”, said Michael A.O’Grady, Sales Marketing & Business Development Manager, Abbey Machinery.

“CLAAS Southern is an ideal fit as both companies put back-up and support at the top of the agenda. Customers need the reassurance they are going to get a good quality product, backed up with excellent aftersales service”.

Russell Hallam, Sales Director, CLAAS Southern said, “Abbey Machinery have the full suite of additional products we are looking for, including Slurry Tankers, Applicators, Slurry Pumps, Diet Feeders, Manure Spreaders, Toppers and Shakers. We wanted a quality brand to offer to our expanding customer base”.

Ibcos have announced the launch of their new Customer Portal - which they describe as a customer’s go-to conduit to everything related to the company. 

This includes the latest software and hardware information, new product releases and updates, company news, customer announcements, self-help and training resources, and our contact details.

Ibcos say they designed this resource to give customers everything they need in order to use their solution to its fullest potential. 'No more questions - just answers' is how they promote the new service.

“We want our customers to have all the information they wish to learn about us or our products at their fingertips,” said Collette Convery, the Managing Director at Ibcos. “Using the Customer Portal, we can maintain continuous communications with our customers to keep them informed and hopefully satisfied at all times.”

The company stress that the current version of the Customer Portal is just a starting point, asking their customers to stay tuned for more content in the future, including videos, news releases, webinars, guides and so on.

Massey Ferguson was awarded a Silver Leaf for its new MF 3700 tractors in the Innovation Awards presented at Italy’s Fieragricola Show for agricultural technologies.

MF 3700 Series

These brand-new MF 3700 specialist tractors are aimed at vineyard, fruit, orchard and hill farmers. The prize was awarded by the jury for the machine’s front-axle suspension and new multi-function hydraulic joystick which groups the clutch, transmission and implement functions into one easy control.

The Fieragricola Innovation Awards 2018 (Premio Innovazione 2018) are staged by Veronafiere, the show’s organisers, in collaboration with L’Edizioni L’Informatore Agrario, a key publisher of agricultural magazines. In selecting the award- winners, the expert jury considers innovation and originality, the impact on environmental and economic sustainability, product quality improvement and product functionality.

“We are thrilled to receive a Silver Leaf award,” said Gianluca Gherardi, Massey Ferguson National Sales Manager, Italy. “With models dedicated to each specialist farming category, the new MF 3700 Series features top quality, straightforward machines, providing high performance, superb fuel efficiency, extreme comfort and versatility.”

With widths extending across the line-up from 1.0m to 2.2m, the new 75-105hp MF 3700 Series features five ranges: V (Vineyard), S (Special), F (Fruit), GE (Ground Effect - low profile) and the WF (Wide Fruit). The Wide Fruit version is a brand-new model with a wider chassis for greater stability, making it also ideal for hillside vineyards and livestock farms with sloping fields

The MF 3700 Series was also a Finalist in the Tractor of the Year 2018 Awards.

Midlands based Emak UK Ltd., manufacturers of the Efco and Bertolini garden machinery ranges, have an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic individual to join their team.

The successful candidate will be an extremely self driven, energetic individual with a proactive and positive attitude. Applicants should possess a proven track record of selling and demonstrating garden machinery either within a Dealership or a similar field based role.

An excellent remuneration package is available to include competitive salary, bonus scheme, company vehicle, Ipad and mobile phone.

If you are confident you have the skills to fulfil this role successfully please email your CV to Neil Turner at nturner@emak.co.uk

Due to recent expansion & the addition of new dealerships, our Essex based company has an opening for a Parts & Sales Advisor to join the team in Great Dunmow.

We are an officially appointed distributor for Industrial Petrol & Diesel Engines, Transmissions & Parts to the Trade & Original Equipment Manufacturers.

The successful candidate will be an extremely self-driven & energetic individual with a proactive & positive attitude. Applicants should possess a high level of previous experience within the Industrial Parts & Sales sector, although full training will be given on our exact range of Engines & Transmissions; a degree of computer literacy is also essential.

Our Engine Dealerships are: Briggs & Stratton, Hatz, Honda, Kohler, Kubota, Lombardini, Yanmar

Our Transmission Dealerships are: Peerless, Tuff Torq

The position offers an attractive salary, private medical insurance & company pension scheme.

If you feel that this position is right for you, please email a CV and covering letter to tricia@uni-power.co.uk ; or send via post to Uni-power Ltd, Attn: Tricia Paveley, Units 8-9 Flitch Industrial Estate, Great Dunmow, Essex CM6 1XJ.

Tel: 01371 875331

www.uni-power.co.uk