Today (12th April) I feel as if I have been released from prison, or rather released on bail. I am no longer confined to my 5km limit and can now travel within my county. This is one of the first stages of the relaxing of the Covid-19 restrictions. On April 26th golf courses and tennis clubs will be allowed to open their gates after being closed for over 5 months. This is much needed good news. Hopefully we will get back to living near normal lives. The timing is good as we are approaching the summer months. I do hope you are still in one piece. It has been very tough for some. For those of you who have been hampered by travel restrictions, make the most of your ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card.

I am amazed at how machinery technology has advanced in recent years. A few years ago I remember attending an open day that was organised by a well known machinery company. The company was introducing a new irrigation system that could be operated at any time of day from anywhere in the world using GPS technology. I was awe struck, as a greenkeeper, at not having to drive to the golf course on a hot Saturday evening to programme the watering schedule for the sprinklers around the greens, so that they would later pop up later that night. This new irrigation system meant that this could be done from home or even from the local pub if I wanted. I could even be on holidays in Spain and do it.  

The memories of that open day came back to me recently when I was reading about the development of robotic mowers. Today not only can groundsmen control their irrigation system from home but they can also programme a mower to start cutting the pitch from home. How amazing is that? However, I still believe that you should be on site, just in case something goes wrong. It is like being the successful company manager. He or she should be at the business premises to make sure that the company is running smoothly.

The advancement of all this technology, especially with electric vehicles and robotic mowers, comes from government pressure to try and reduce our carbon footprint - less fossil fuel burning and more green energy such as from solar and wind power. However, I still can’t get my head around the thought of a 100 horse power tractor, and bigger, being able to carry out farm duties such as ploughing a field or helping with collecting silage and using a battery as its source of energy. I’m sure that day will come. For now, every new electric mower purchased means less carbon emissions into our atmosphere. That has to be good news.  

Dealers are being trained to install robotic mowers on premises, especially in home gardens and I am very impressed at how quickly the installation can be done - all in less than a day. One of the things that we should be proud of, as dealers, is how good we are at keeping on top of new technological advancements. This will always be a challenge for us but is something we are well used to.