I was recently talking to a colleague of mine and, in the course of our conversation, he told me that he will be soon retiring.

That person was Richard Harris, managing director of Reesink Turfcare Ireland. I would like to pay my own special tribute to Richard, as I have known him since my Golf Course Superintendents Association of Ireland (GCSAI) days, which is well over twenty years ago. I found him a true gentleman and a very approachable person.

One thing that is not mentioned in the press releases about his retirement is his support of education in the turfcare industry. He was instrumental in the development of the GCSAI, when it changed its name from the Irish Greenkeepers Association in 1996. Then, as managing director of Lely Ireland, Richard financialy supported the GCSAI, both regionally and nationally. In particular, he approved the financial support of the association’s annual conference, which has become one of the most important dates of the its calender year. He never made any fuss or gave unrealistic conditions for the sponsorship.

I remember during the financial crisis of 2008, when I was editor of the GCSAI’s trade publication, Greenside, many companies withdrew their advertising in the magazine but Richard was one of the few who continued on with the advertising. It was a tough time for machinery companies back then (as it is now, with Covod-19) and the easy thing to do would have been to stop supporting voluntary organisations, such as the GCSAI.

Another organisation that Richard supported was the Irish Links Initiative (ILI). Founded by the late Brian Coburn of Royal County Down Golf Links fame, the ILI addresses issues concerning links courses around Ireland, such as coastal erosion, rough management and the invasion of non native species. Again, Richard was there to financialy support this worthwhile organisation.

I often remember sitting beside him at events and having ‘normal’ conversations with him. There were no airs and graces about Richard. If you arrived to meet him on a bicycle or in a Mercedes, he treated you with the same respect.

I was surprised to hear though that, despite all of the years he supported the golf and sportsurf sector, he never played a round of golf. How did he get away with that? I think it might be on his list of activities to do in his new found spare time. So, cheers Richard, here’s to a long, happy and enjoyable retirement. You will be missed a lot.

You can read more about Richard’s career in the article below in this edition of Service Dealer Ireland.

Before I finish up, I have to say that I am very concerned about the increase in numbers of Covid-19 cases being recorded, particularly in Dublin. We all have a responsibility to adhere to the government guidelines to protect ourselves and others. Remember to wear your mask and sanitise your hands when necessary.

Do ensure that your place of work is compliant and that you, your work colleagues and your customers keep safe. I hope that, by the next time Service Dealer Ireland is published, we will be looking at reduced numbers of positive cases.

In the meantime keep safe and well.

Richard Harris, managing director of Reesink Turfcare IRE, has announced his retirement from the company.

Richard was instrumental in the development of the Lely, Reesink and Toro brands in Ireland and leaves a career which spans 31 years in the turfcare industry.

Richard Harris

Richard joined Toro distributor for Ireland, J C Distribution, in 1989. In 1994 he took on the management and development of Lely Ireland (as a sister company of Lely UK) into a combined agriculture and turfcare machinery business. He has played a leading role in helping develop the Toro brand and reputation for quality products.

A past president of the Farm Tractor Machinery Trade Association (FTMTA) in 2014, when the agriculture and turfcare divisions separated within Lely, Richard moved with the turfcare side of the business which then joined the Royal Reesink Group in 2016.

The last few years have seen Richard spearhead considerable investment by the Royal Reesink group in both Toro and other brands (such as Trilo and TYM) in Ireland through their base in Nurney, Co Kildare. Focusing on establishing a stand-alone business, the Reesink Turfcare sales team has been together for many years moving along with the company changes. This allowed Richard to focus on building up the customer service, parts and technical support areas to enhance Reesink’s support for Toro and Trilo fine turf and grounds customers in Ireland. Reesink say Richard hands the business over in a strong state to maintain and build customer satisfaction levels on a par with all Toro European distributor operations.

Roon Hylkema, managing director of Reesink Turfcare BV and a colleague of Richard’s since 1991, said, “Richard and I have worked together for a great many years. We were originally from different companies, I was with Jean Heybroek BV and he was with Lely UK, but we had the Toro brand in common. Then in the last four years when Reesink acquired Lely, as Reesink had acquired Jean Heybroek in 2010, much more closely as we worked together to raise the Reesink profile in Ireland. He’s the type of colleague, employee and friend you’d want in your professional life, honest, straight-forward, loyal and reliable, and he’ll be greatly missed for the contribution he has made to the development of the business in that time and throughout his career.”

Richard says, “During my career I have had the privilege of working with so many great teams of people both within our own companies in Ireland, the UK, The Netherlands and Denmark, as well as within The Toro Company and more recently Vanmac/Trilo. I have shared some great experiences and relationships with many colleagues and contacts within these companies and the turfcare and agricultural machinery industry at large over the years. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time working within this industry.

“While looking forward to now having time to focus on other interests, I will certainly miss it all and will keep an eye with interest on the future development of the business and the turfcare industry. While COVID-19 has affected the whole industry and will bring many challenges and changes to the way we do business in the future, I have no doubt that Reesink, Toro and the turfcare industry will bounce back over the next couple of years and grasp the opportunities that will present themselves.”

TAP, part of the same group as Service Dealer Ireland, has released their Ag Tractor Research Summary 2020 Report - which is now available for download for free.

Shaun Cooper, head of insight at TAP, said, "Following our successful research in 2019, we wanted to see how the Ag tractor market has changed in the last 12 months.

"We launched a survey to Ag dealers back in February through Service Dealer in the UK, and since then have gained responses from 63 individual dealerships.

"During these uncertain times, it is more valuable than ever that we share this research with you, giving you the opportunity to get an in-depth insight into some of the industry's key player market performance levels."

TAP recently ran two successful webinars, that covered a variety of market insights revealed by the report. You can watch one below.

Ollie Belt, account executive at TAP, added, "We are happy with the increase in responses to our survey and the general interest in our report. Following the webinars we received positive feedback from dealers and manufacturers.

“We feel that with a greater sample size this year, we have built on 2019’s study and have a more robust set of data across each of the tractor brands featured in our unique research.”

Download the free report here.

Farmhand, sole distributors for Krone, Amazone and Quicke, have appointed The Cooney Furlong Machinery Company as their new Big Line dealer for the South East.

This appointment means that they will now be dealers for the Big X self-propelled forage harvester and the Big M self-propelled mower alongside their existing machinery business in Co. Wexford.

“We are proud to extend our partnership with The Cooney Furlong Machinery Company, they have already been doing an excellent job for our brands and provide top class service and back up,” said Paul Scrivener, managing director of Farmhand “We are really excited to see how they get on in the future with the Big Line machinery.”

Looking after Krone machinery sales for The Cooney Furlong Machinery Company will be Tom O’Connor, a former employee of Farmhand. “I’m really excited to be able to offer our customers the full line up of Krone equipment, having worked with these machines before I’m confident we are offering the best there is to farmers and contractors.”

For more information on the machinery available contact Tom on 087 383 4138

Textron Specialized Vehicles Inc., have announced their intention to relocate all manufacturing of Jacobsen professional turf equipment to its facility in Ipswich.

In a statement the company said the move will begin this autumn and be completed in stages over the next several months.

Textron said this move will ". . enable the company to focus its investments, skill, and improvements in mower production on a single facility, and leverage existing resources and expertise at its Ipswich facility."

The plant, which currently builds Jacobsen and Ransomes mowers, is the oldest manufacturer of motorised lawn mowers in the world, in operation for more than 187 years.

According to reports in the U.S media 30 to 35 percent of Jacobsen products had been manufacturing in Ipswich over the last five years. However that figure is thought to have risen to around 50 percent coming out of Ipswich during the past two years - reflecting a desire by Textron to limit multiple manufacturing locations.

Jacobsen relocated North American production from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Augusta, Georgia, in 2016.

The UK facility will now produce mowers for all regions, including North America. Jacobsen will maintain its sales, parts, and customer-care teams in North America, and its network of North American distributors, to serve its customers in the United States and Canada.

"We are excited to establish our Ipswich, UK. facility as the worldwide manufacturing centre of excellence for Jacobsen equipment," said Simon Rainger, vice president, Turf for Textron Specialized Vehicles.

"This move will enable us to operate more efficiently, and expand on the legacy of innovation and quality that our Ipswich plant has built over its long history."

Jacobsen say they are continuing to develop new products to serve their customers around the globe. The brand is due to launch a slate of new mowers in coming months, including the Eclipse 360 ELiTE electric greens mower powered by Samsung SDI lithium-battery technology, and the new AR530 and AR730 area rotary mowers.

DR Power Equipment, a division of Generac Holdings Inc., announced this week the closing of a purchase agreement to acquire the assets of Mean Green Products, the maker of commercial, battery-powered turfcare equipment, headquartered in Ross, Ohio.

In the UK and Ireland the Mean Green range is distributed by Overton (UK) Ltd

Joe Conrad, president and owner of Mean Green Products, pictured at 2019's GIE+EXPO

Service Dealer Ireland spoke to Guy Overton, director of Overton, who told us that he and his brother Richard had spoken to Joe Conrad, president and owner of Mean Green Products, who had confirmed and reassured them that nothing will change regarding their distribution agreement for the UK and Ireland.

"After speaking with Joe we are looking forward to new electric mowers to come, now they have the investment," Guy told Service Dealer. "Hopefully we will be able to exhibit them at SALTEX next year,"

Matt Bieber, president of DR Power Equipment, said, “Entering the commercial turf care category has been a target of ours for years, but we wanted to do it in an innovative and differentiated way. The improvements in battery technology have now enabled the electrification of large commercial turf care products and Mean Green is leading the way.

"We have watched the Mean Green team grow and develop new products and technologies, which led us to proactively pursue them to become part of our portfolio. Mean Green products will supplement our expanding battery-powered, chore products line up and support our goals to integrate and develop new battery-powered solutions.”

Joe Conrad, president and owner of Mean Green Products said, “We are extremely excited for the opportunity to further expand on our vision to provide consumers with meaningful battery powered equipment.

"The DR Power and Generac teams are an excellent fit for our company and our employees."

The acquisition closed on September 1. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

John Deere has announced a change to its senior management affecting the leadership in Region 2 (Europe and the CIS).

Alejandro Sayago has been appointed vice president, Ag & Turf sales & marketing, Region 2, replacing Denny Docherty who is retiring on October 31, 2020.

Alejandro Sayago

Deere says in his new role Alejandro Sayago will continue to manage the team responsible for execution of their 'Grow Time' strategy across the region, ensuring the successful implementation of what they term their 'Smart Industrial Operating Model'.

The company say he will also focus on the transition of the central sales and marketing organisation from Mannheim to Walldorf in Germany. In addition, he will drive the company’s continued efforts to build a strong dealership network for agricultural and turf equipment in the region. Alejandro’s appointment will take effect on October 1.

Alejandro (Alex) Sayago joined the company in 1992 as an engineer at John Deere Industrias in Mexico and later held supply management and operations roles there. He had subsequent assignments in marketing, sales and strategy in the US, Uruguay and Brazil.

In 2012 he was named director, Corporate Business Division for the Ag & Turf Division. Two years later he became director, sales & marketing for operations in Latin America (Region 3). Since February 2019 Alejandro has been director, Corporate Strategy & Business Development.

“Alejandro has been one of my trusted advisors who helped to develop our Grow Time strategy, which fully aligns with the Smart Industrial Model,” said Denny Docherty. “I’ve known Alex personally and professionally for 15 years and I promise you, the region and John Deere dealers are getting an outstanding leader and person to work with.”

Denny Docherty

Denny Docherty joined Deere in 1998 and has held numerous leadership positions in sales, marketing and strategy. In January 2019 he assumed his most recent duties, heading sales and marketing in Region 2. He has elected to retire for family reasons.