The GIS show in Orlando, Florida took place earlier this month and proved to be a great success. Total attendance was 11,000, up 69% from the previous year. There were almost 450 exhibitors, many of which were machinery dealers and manufacturers from the turf maintenance industry. It was nice to see some of the machinery companies getting involved with sponsoring the conference and its events. The GCSAA Golf Championships was presented by Toro while John Deere was in partnership with the GCSAA in holding the annual GCSAA Turf Bowl, a unique team event that tests the knowledge of students studying turf management in college. 

Sponsoring events and organisations is so important for our industry. Many organisations in Ireland, such as the Association of landscape Contractors of Ireland (ALCI), the Association of Turfgrass Professionals Ireland (ATPI) and the Irish Links Initiative (ILI) are run by volunteers. They run many events throughout the year for their members. Most of these events are educational and involve a lot of the committee’s free time to organise. Many of our professional customers are members of one or more of these organisations. They benefit hugely by being a member as it gives them opportunities to improve their knowledge of their profession, and earn valuable CPD points. These events cost a lot of money to organise. Membership and entrance fees will not be enough to cover the costs.  

We must not forget that their industry is our industry as well so anything that helps them will, in the long term, help us too. An educated and informed customer is a valuable customer. If you have the means to sponsor an organisation that is running an event, especially in your region you should take the opportunity to help them out. I know running a business is not cheap or easy. We only have to look at our energy bills to see how much they have skyrocketed over the past twelve months.

In the past I was a former Vice President of the ATPI (then known as the Golf Course Superintendents Association of Ireland). I remember getting involved with organising educational seminars and we needed sponsors to cover the costs of running them. In the end we managed to get enough companies on board to run a successful seminar but it was hard work. Many of the businesses we approached would ask “what’s in it for us?”. Our reply would be “you would be supporting our organisation and help with the education of our members” but some would decline as they perhaps didn’t see that this was an important reason to sponsor the event and there would be no immediate financial gain for them.

Those companies that did sponsor us did benefit indirectly. Some of the people that attended those seminars would have been groundstaff or greenkeepers who would later become head groundsmen/greenkeepers or may have started their own landscaping business. Some of them even got top jobs abroad. They would remember that being a member of a national organisation helped their career. They would also remember the companies that helped fund those educational events.

Spearhead has announced they have become the exclusive Ireland & UK distributor for Roberine.

The Alamo Group, who are Spearhead's parent company, bought the Dutch Power Group who owned Roberine back in March 2019.

Spearhead has initially introduced four Roberine amenity mowers with the promise of further development in this space.
 
Serving the Irish and UK market, Spearhead said in an official statement that they "..will provide enhanced UK-based customer support, including help with road registration, rapid parts distribution, and general aftercare."
 
The Spearhead Roberine range includes four ride-on commercial mowers. The F3 (3 gang) machine is available as a flail or cylinder mower, whilst the F5 (5 gang) machine is also available as a flail or cylinder mower.

Antony Prince, director of sales and marketing at Spearhead, said, “Adding high-end, commercial ride-on machines to our line-up fits perfectly with our growth plans. And this is only the start. Using our product development strength we’re working to expand the range soon.

"We want those managing amenity space to have the best possible equipment supporting them.”

New Holland has recently announced the winners of its 2022 UK and ROI Dealer of The Year Awards, which celebrate excellence in performance and service quality across its UK and Ireland dealer network.  

MC&S Agri Sales Ltd were named Ireland Dealer of the Year

The awards were announced at the 2023 Dealer Kick Off Meeting which was held at the Basildon plant followed by an evening dinner and horse racing at the Chelmsford City Racecourse. The awards were presented by Sean Lennon, vice president New Holland Agriculture Europe together with David Rapkins, the company's recently appointed business director for UK & ROI.

Main category winners:

• Overall UK Dealer of the Year: Lloyd Ltd
• Ireland Dealer of the Year: MC&S Agri Sales Ltd
• Medium UK Dealer of the Year: Ravenhill Ltd
• Small UK Dealer of the Year: Burkes of Cornascriebe Ltd

Product Line Category Winners:

• Combine Dealer of the Year: Russells Ltd
• Tractor Dealer of the Year: Ravenhill Ltd
• Hay & Forage Dealer of the Year: Ernest Doe & Sons Ltd
• Aftersales Dealer of the Year: Agricar Ltd
• Implements Dealer of the Year: Agricar Ltd
• Construction Equipment Dealer of the Year: Menai Tractors Ltd
• Telehandler Dealer of the Year: Ernest Doe & Sons Ltd 

David Rapkins said, “I would like to express my congratulations to all the 2022 New Holland Dealer of the Year winners. These awards are created to motivate and encourage all our dealers to drive business growth. We acknowledge and thank the whole team in each dealership which includes service, parts, marketing, administration support and all the sales teams.

"2022 was a very successful year for New Holland and our dealers which shows the excellent teamwork across our whole dealer network”.

Husqvarna has announced they are launching a complete product range that supports the Power for All battery system.

The manufacturer's Aspire range includes a robotic mower, walk behind mower, grass trimmer, pruner, hedge trimmer and blower.

The Power for All Alliance is one of the world's largest cross-brand battery alliances and was co-founded by Husqvarna Group, through its Gardena brand, and Bosch in 2020. The Husqvarna brand joined the Power for All Alliance in 2022, now enabling consumers to use the same 18V battery for multiple devices in and around their home and garden, regardless of manufacturer. 

Pavel Hajman, acting CEO of Husqvarna Group said, “Electrification is changing society and is essential in the transition to a low-carbon economy. Husqvarna Group is on an electrification journey with great ambitions to enable garden owners to shift from fossil fuel to battery-powered products. Successful collaborations and powerful batteries really make a difference in this progress."

Shifting from petrol to battery-powered products is one of their strategic priorities the Husqvarna Group has said. They say their ambition is to have 67% of the company's motorised products run on electricity by 2026.

Väderstad has acquired parts of the Danish company Thyregod that produces a full product range of inter-row cultivators.

Henrik Gilstring, CEO of Väderstad Group and Peter Erik Hansen, chairman of the board at Thyregod A/S

The acquisition includes all intellectual property rights to Thyregod’s inter-row cultivator product area; the TRV range including the Swingking. 

Thyregod A/S is a Danish agricultural brand with roots that go back to 1918. For more than 25 years, it has worked to develop, produce and sell inter-row cultivators. The spring of 2023 will be a transition period and Väderstad will take over the responsibility for the inter-row cultivator business June 1st.

Vaderstad UK’s sales and marketing manager Andy Gamble said, “Our new and existing farmer customers will increasingly use inter-row crop cultivators and it is essential that we include them in our product range.

"We have already identified that in the future many of our Tempo farmers will move to more mechanical solutions for weed control. 

“As there is usually a challenge to match an inter-row cultivator to a seeding machine, Väderstad can now offer farmers a complete solution,” he says. “Adding an inter-row cultivator to our product range also optimizes our future Proceed concept in cereals.”

Initially, the inter-row cultivators will be sold under the Thyregod brand, and manufactured in Thyregod’s production facilities in Denmark. From June 2024, they will carry the Väderstad brand and the company says more details about this will be announced prior to Agritechnica 2023.

Doosan Bobcat have announced they will provide equipment worth around $1 million for relief and recovery activities in the earthquake-stricken areas of Turkey.

The company says construction equipment will be promptly delivered through their dealer network to be of practical help in lifesaving activities in affected areas and to help restore critical infrastructure such as collapsed buildings and roads. The equipment being supplied includes skid-steer loaders and excavators to remove and clean debris, and portable generators and lighting towers to be used at sites with power supply issues. 

By providing equipment that can be used immediately for relief and recovery efforts, Doosan Bobcat say they hope to help residents of the affected areas in Turkey to begin to recover their daily lives as soon as possible.

The donation will be financed in cooperation with Doosan Bobcat’s mother company, Doosan Group, which has supported previous major disasters with equipment and donations, such as hurricanes and earthquakes in the U.S., China, Haiti, Japan and Nepal over the past 20-plus years.

The 1st of March 2023 marks the inaugural year of a new turf care event in Scotland, with The Scots Turf Show opening its doors at Hamilton Park Racecourse.

Richard Heywood of Campey Turf Care and Alan Thomson of AllGrass

Devised by 17 industry companies, the organisers of the event say it will "strive to give back to the Scottish turf community by providing a local event". 

Organisers believe that almost 50% of the grounds industry in Scotland, be they groundsmen or greenkeepers working in football, rugby, golf or at schools or councils, have never attended an industry event.

A primary reason they give for this is the time and cost of travelling to existing exhibitions in England. Alan Thomson of AllGrass Turf Care, who had the original idea behind reviving a Scottish Turf event, felt this had to change.

“Back in 2019, I went to Richard Heywood at Campey Turf Care with an idea to create an event in Scotland that gave back to the Scottish market,” Alan explained.

“There used to be Scots Turf, and we’ve not had it for roughly 15 years, and as a result, almost half of the Scottish turf industry has missed out on educational opportunities and seeing machinery that could help them in their day-to-day work.

“Clubs can’t afford to let their staff go to current events, which means two days away from Scotland, financially they can’t do it, and there are various other reasons.

“We held a trial event in 2019 with seven companies at Falkirk Tryst Golf Club and had 118 people turn out. The clubhouse was probably only big enough for 100, so it was great to see that there was something there.

“After a delay due to Covid. We got back to the vision of how big we could make this. We had to bring it back to earth a little because we’d love to have 40 companies there and make it a big grand event, but we want to grow at a steady rate that works for the visitors and companies involved.

“So, this is another step. There’s a market, and there is a demand. This year we have a fantastic venue at Hamilton Park Racecourse. There’s plenty of parking, an onsite hotel, various marquees and live demonstrations outside.

“As well as the 17 companies, we’ll have seminars in one day consisting of twenty-minute sessions, so people stay engaged. We have devised everything to benefit those attending, and we’re looking forward to their support so we can continue to provide this for them.”

A significant difference between this event and others already on the industry calendar, say organisers, is that this one is purely financed by the companies behind it.

Organisers believe this allows for every discipline of turf care to be covered in a focused one-day event that engages visitors and makes it financially viable for whole teams to attend.

Email scotsturfshow@gmail.com to register your attendance.