Lagan Bros. Agri Contractors, based in Moneymore, Co. Londonderry purchased the first John Deere 9900i forage harvester in Europe. It was sold to them by Northern Ireland’s John Deere dealer Johnston Gilpin & Co. Ltd.

The harvester was handed over to them at John Deere’s manufacturing facility at Zweibrücken in Germany during a Gold Key award ceremony.

At the Gold Key presentation in Zweibrücken, Germany from left: Paul Lagan, Michael Lagan, Seamus Lagan of Lagan Bros., Johannes Zametzer (Zweibrücken factory marketing representative), Gethin Evans (Sales Agricultural Manager, Johnston Gilpin & Co. Ltd)

“We are extremely proud to have sold the first John Deere 9900i SPFH in Europe to loyal customers Lagan Bros. for the 2019 season and were fortunate to be able to be part of a special Gold Key presentation at Zweibrücken where their new harvester was handed over, fresh from the production line!” said Johnston Gilpin’s Agri Sales Manager Gethin Evans.

“The Gold Key Tour is an option any customer has when purchasing a new machine from John Deere but on a special occasion like this, with the first model sold in Europe, we thought it fitting for the customer to get an extra special handover to acknowledge their latest purchase and as long standing customers who had never had the opportunity to see the production facility. The trip consists of a “one on one” factory tour, tailored to customer wishes and on completion they are handed over a special gold key with their new machine, fresh off the production line.” Continued Gethin.

However, The journey in purchasing this machine has a bit of a story in itself. About a year ago, Michael Lagan was alerted that a high horsepower machine was on the horizon. This came to fruition when John Deere’s Harvesting Territory Sales Manager, Rob Hill, offered Michael and Johnston Gilpin the opportunity to visit a prototype machine in a secret location, together with another customer who too expressed an interest and incidentally also bought a 9900i from them this year.

Unable to make the flight, due to some late night foraging, Michael Lagan and his partner Alannah drove through the night, got the ferry at 3.30am and arrived at the secret location to view the machine the next day. However, it rained and despite waiting all day to see the machine run, all they could do was walk around it as the customer wouldn’t permit operations to begin.

However, fast forward a couple of months, they attended the dealer launch of the new 9000 series SPFH in Italy and shortly after Johnston Gilpin were given the opportunity to use a John Deere demo machine for 10 days. This gave them a great chance to let the Lagan Bros get their hands on the machine, their bums in the seat and in their own grass. What better a way to let a customer get a feel for a machine! Shortly after this a deal was made with family to be the first proud owners in Europe of a 9900i chopper!

Below is a video of the delivery of the 9900i to the Lagan Bros. premises (courtesy of Carl O’Loughlin Agri Videos).