The month of May has been exceptionally cold. Where I live in County Wexford, temperatures barely got above 12C during the month. Last week saw a big improvement in the weather so let’s hope that June will fare out that bit better. I hope that, for many of you, business life is back to normal again now that showrooms are open and people can enter premises to view and do business.

I hope that you were able to retain the staff you had before lockdown began over fourteen months ago. I hear of many industries, especially the retail and hospitality sector, having staff shortages as many of their former staff moved on and found work elsewhere, especially those that were let go, albeit temporarily. This is becoming a big problem.

The time has almost come when dealers can visit farms and sportsgrounds with their machines and get back to giving demonstrations on site once again. Having one to one contact and showing off the new equipment and answering any questions will be good to see once more. Having virtual demonstrations online certainly filled the gap during the pandemic but it doesn’t beat having real communication in person where the customer can sit on the tractor or mower and try it out for themselves, in a real field or pitch.

In some of my earlier blogs I would have mentioned the importance of dealers in the community, especially in rural areas. They are a source of support to the farmer or turf manager. When things are not going to plan and a machine breaks down when an important match is coming up or a crop needs to be harvested, a good dealer will be there to help their customer as best they can. The lifting of restrictions should allow call outs to take place again.

I’m sure that local demonstrations will be organised during the summer. However, even though, by the time you read this blog, that more than half of the population will have received their first vaccination, many of the agricultural shows have been cancelled, for the second year in a row. Tullamore, Tinahealy, Virginia and the Iverk shows are just a few to name. Even the trade exhibition at the National Ploughing Competition has been cancelled, along with the World Ploughing Contest. However the National Ploughing Competition will take place with limited numbers for visitors attending. You can read more about this in this edition of Service Dealer Ireland.

The picture in the UK is almost the opposite to here in Ireland. They have been ahead of us with the vaccination rollout, as most of the population there have received their jabs. BIGGA’s Festival of Turf outdoor exhibition is planned to go ahead from 21st to the 22nd July at the Warwickshire Event Centre.

Finally, as farm and garden equipment is being used more frequently during the fine weather, I would ask you to be safety aware when it comes to operating machines. Inform your customers about the hazards that exist and the necessary safety precautions needed before operating them. Let’s try and keep farm deaths as low as possible this year.   

The National Ploughing Association (NPA) Executive say they have made the difficult decision to cancel the 2021 Trade Exhibition following months of monitoring the Covid-19 status and taking into account the Government’s updated roadmap for the next few months.

Given the sheer scale of the ploughing with 297,000 attendees in 2019 and the lack of clarity about what Covid-19 restrictions and regulations will look like in September for outdoor events it was felt that canceling the 1700 trade exhibitor event was the only option. 

Public Health & Safety is of paramount importance to the Association and unless the NPA were confident the Trade Exhibition could go ahead without causing any risk to exhibitors, competitors & visitors it would not be feasible.  As the timeline to start site works is imminent – the NPA just could not wait any longer to make a decision.

The World Ploughing Contest due to be held in Ireland to celebrate the 90th Anniversary of the NPA attracting visitors from 30 countries was also cancelled given the extent of current International Travel Restrictions. However, the National Ploughing Competitions are still scheduled for this September.

The NPA Managing Director Anna May McHugh said, “It’s a massive disappointment to the Association to have to cancel the trade exhibition two years in a row in particular when you consider the estimated annual economic impact of €50 million that will be lost to the Irish Economy. We are very conscious of the loss of revenue for our exhibitors and the disappointment of patrons.  However, the NPA is a strong establishment, we have a massively committed team behind the event, our exhibitors and our patrons have been very loyal over the years and we look forward to bringing the Exhibition back at its full potential in 2022. We will run our National Ploughing Competitions this year and hopefully we can welcome some visitors (pending regulations).”

The plan will be to build a programme of activities around the “Ploughing Competitions” that will keep the focus on “Rural Ireland” during Ploughing Week (15th – 17th Sept.) – this will include virtual content promoting exhibitors combined with a week of highly interactive and immersive #Ploughing2021 digital activations for all to get involved with.

The NPA have also confirmed that the event will return to Ratheniska in 2022 from   20th – 22nd September when we look forward to enjoying the Ploughing as usual.

A John Deere Gator utility vehicle supplied by local dealer Seamus Weldon Groundcare Equipment to Ireland’s largest Clean Coasts group is aiding beach cleaning efforts along a 25-mile stretch of the east Cork coastline.

Pictured with the new John Deere Gator on Ardnahinch beach, Co Cork are (far left) four year old volunteer Odhran Ó Tuama with his father Proinsias, Mayor Cllr Mary Linehan Foley and other Clean Coasts Ballynamona volunteers. (Photo credit: Cathal Noonan)

The multi award-winning Clean Coasts Ballynamona Group bought the XUV 855M Gator to help step up its ongoing fight against the scourge of marine litter. Group founder Proinsias Ó Tuama says the vehicle is an essential piece of equipment in tackling the tonnes of litter that wash up on their coastline every year.

The Gator is mainly used for helping to pull heavy marine litter such as old, abandoned fishing nets and ropes that wash up on the shore, as well as carrying anything from bags of plastic rubbish to rubber tyres.

Founded in 2015, Clean Coasts Ballynamona is now part of the Sea and Land Trust. It has over 300 regular volunteers that clean and maintain an area representing 1.5 per cent of the total Irish coastline, including two Blue Flag and three Green Coast beaches.

Alongside this effort, the group manages 34 acres of meadowland spread across the county, which is grown to encourage pollinators and wildlife. This is maintained by a John Deere X950R rear discharge/rear collect diesel lawn tractor, also supplied by Weldons. In addition, the group consults with businesses and landowners on biodiversity plans covering a further 600 acres of private and public spaces, so these can be managed more sympathetically to benefit the environment – all free of charge.

“In our first year as a group we lifted 12 tonnes of marine litter on less than a mile of beach at Ballynamona – multiply that up by the entire Irish coastline and you can see the scale of the problem,” says Proinsias Ó Tuama, who is a teacher with the Cork Education and Training Board. “We were using a quad bike and trailer before, which were adequate for the job, but the group is very health and safety conscious so we set about looking for a more effective replacement.

“Having had a good experience with the lawn tractor, it made sense to go back to Michael Weldon at the John Deere dealership, so we sold the quad bike and also got Fisheries Local Action Group funding to help pay for the new Gator and a wider trailer. I’m proud to say we have a 100 per cent safety record to date in the volunteer beach cleaning operation, so the Gator’s proved to be an ideal solution.

“When you’re picking up plastic bottles for example, very often they’re full of sea water, sand and other debris, and this can make the collection bags very heavy to carry safely along a long stretch of beach. This is not ideal, particularly for very young children, so it makes sense to use a four-wheel drive vehicle with a load bed and a decent capacity to carry the full bags back to the beach car park for safe disposal.

“Over the years the group’s been active, we have brought more than 1000 people beach cleaning voluntarily. We’ve always tried to be as inclusive as possible of everyone that wishes to help, and we find kids of all ages get hooked from the start. Educating young people about the environment is a key element of our work and effort, so we liaise with local schools and colleges and are very much engaged with the community.

“Pristine coasts are essential. They are not just very important ecosystems, they are also crucial for the local economy. The addition of this new John Deere Gator has really expanded our beach cleaning capabilities, as well as making the job more efficient and safer for our volunteers.”

Campey Turf Care Systems has been appointed as the Martin Lishman Micro-Spray worldwide distributor.

Martin Lishman national sales manager, Joel Capper, says he is confident Campey will increase the profile of the Micro-Spray and take it into new markets and is excited to continue working with the company.

“We have been working closely with Campey for a number of years and have been impressed by their global reach to sports clubs and amenity facilities,” Joel said. “We feel confident in their ability to take the Micro-Spray forward into different markets in new countries and look forward to working with them even closer in this latest chapter in the Micro-Spray success story.”

Campey chairman, Richard Campey, added, “New approaches and innovation is something we look for in the machinery we work with, and we’ve been impressed with Martin Lishman’s approach to compact sprayers for some time. We are very pleased to be able to reinforce an already successful relationship with this exclusive agreement regarding the Micro-Spray and look forward to the next developments in their range.”

The Claas tractor factory in Le Mans, France - referred to by the company as the “Future Factory” - has officially started operations following three years of modernisation.

The manufacturer says following a 40 million Euro investment, their new facility draws on state-of-the-art digital technologies, making it one of the most advanced tractor plants in the world.

Claas gave the go-ahead for this major investment in Le Mans back in 2017. They say the huge investments were primarily spent on a complete renewal of assembly equipment and digital transformation of the plant. This brings the total investment in Le Mans, the development centre in Vélizy and the test and validation centre in Trangé to around €80 million since the acquisition of Renault Agriculture in 2003. 

“Our completely refurbished plant in Le Mans raises the bar for the production of premium and connected agricultural tractors”, said Thomas Böck, Chair of the CLAAS Group Executive Board. “We have therefore opened a new chapter in the continued growth of our global business.”

The modernisation of the plant, according to the company, creates entirely new opportunities for the manufacture of increasingly complex and individually configured tractors. This involved a complete rethink of many complex processes – especially in the area of in-house logistics.

The use of cutting-edge virtual reality technologies enabled digital simulation of all processes during the factory planning stage, even for tractor models that have not yet entered production. Innumerable options were acted out using 3D animations and VR goggles in order to play through all stages of assembly, from the powertrain to the finished and tested tractor. Any necessary structural changes were therefore identified early on. 

Claas say that their employees are the main beneficiaries of the completely modernised plant. The new logistics infrastructure means workers have significantly more space at their ergonomically designed workplaces, as only parts that are immediately needed are delivered to the assembly line. Some of the workstations are even equipped with headsets so that employees can benefit from easier communication. In addition, bright colours and state-of-the-art LED lighting technology ensure a concentrated and pleasant working atmosphere that resembles natural lighting conditions. 

At present, five tractor model series from 75 to 460 hp are produced in Le Mans. Together with the development centre in Vélizy near Paris and the test and validation centre in Trangé, around 1,000 people are employed in Le Mans. The locations cooperate closely with other development centres and plants, such as in Germany with Claas E-Systems in Dissen or with Claas Industrietechnik in Paderborn.

Väderstad AB has acquired 100 percent of North Daktota-based AGCO-Amity JV LLC (AAJV).

AAJV - also known under the name Wil-Rich - will be fully integrated into the Väderstad global group of companies under the company name Vaderstad Inc.

AAJV was formed in 2011 through a 50/50 joint venture between AGCO Corp. and Amity Technology for the continued manufacturing of seeding and tillage products under the Concord, Wil-Rich and Wishek brand names. The company has 270 dealers globally, most of them in the United States.

Väderstad say the integration of AAJV allows them to gain access to distribution outlets in the USA, a manufacturing facility in the USA as well as benefit from the heritage and reputation of the brands.

Väderstad president and CEO Mats Båverud said, “This acquisition is in line with our long-term ambition to grow on the North American market. AAJV has a strong position on the US market combined with a product portfolio that gives us a more complete product offering in North America."

AAJV has 110 employees and a manufacturing facility of 30 000 m2, a parts distribution warehouse, and a research and development facility in Wahpeton, North Dakota. Their product line serves a range of tillage and seeding needs such as field cultivators, disc harrows, shank drills, disc drills and air carts.

New Holland Agriculture was recently honoured with the Gold medal at the 2021 edition of the Edison Awards for the Loop Master knotting technology featured on its BigBaler 1290 High Density and BigBaler Plus range.

The annual award competition recognises excellence in new product and service development, marketing, human-centered design and innovation. Winners are selected based on four criteria: Concept, Value, Delivery and Impact.

Carlo Lambro, New Holland brand president, said, “We are honoured to receive this recognition for our patented Loop Master technology, which brings significant cost and environmental benefits to our customers. By recognising that bale quality is key to delivering maximum productivity and minimum waste, over the years our team has been focusing its resources on how to enhance these two aspects further, while making baling even more sustainable.”

Felix Ramuenke, global product manager for Large Square Balers, added, “The Loop Master technology takes the best from the two existing knotting technologies and combines them to provide a solution that is an industry first. This unique solution has attracted great interest from industry experts and farmers, and has been very well received by customers.”

The Loop Master technology, on the one hand, eliminates the loose twine ends generated by double knot technology, which are left behind in the field, representing a cost for farmers, a hazard to livestock and a contaminate to the environment. On the other, the solution also adopts the higher tensile strength of the ‘loop’ knotter, increasing it by 26%. This means that lower grade twine can be used and bales are more resistant to handling.

Visit the Kentucky Exposition Center, between the 20-22nd October 2021, to take part in GIE+EXPO’s:

• 4,000sqft hands-on Drone Zone
• UTV Test Track for driving and comparing the latest vehicles on real terrain
• Remote Pilot Certification Course
• Arborist demos and classroom courses
• Keynote presentation from Admiral James Stavridis
• Free dealer workshops by Bob Clements International, as well as much more… 

Visit gie-expo.com to find out more.