I am delighted to report that I have received my second jab and that I am now fully vaccinated. This means that I am among the almost 50% of the population that are fully vaccinated. The vaccination roll-out programme is steadily marching on.

Despite this, it seems that we will have to wait that bit longer before we can avail of indoor dining in pubs and restaurants. These were due to open today (5th July) but were dealt a major blow when the opening date was deferred with no date set for reopening. Many restaurant owners are at breaking point, both financially and mentally and this delay is not helping them. It is hard to imagine that some pubs that don’t have the space to serve food or drink outside have been shut for almost 16 months.

I hope I am right in saying that our industry seems to be doing pretty well at this stage of the pandemic, when you consider other industries such as hospitality, aviation and certain tourist sectors. However, there is one thing that confuses me. If hotels are allowed to be open and serve food indoors to their guests why can’t restaurants do the same? Is the virus able to distinguish between a hotel and a restaurant? 

At this moment in time, the final stage of easing lockdown restrictions in the UK will happen on the 19th of July. This should allow BIGGA’s Festival of Turf, which is due to take place at the Warwickshire Event Centre on the 21st and 22nd of July, to go ahead. However, the event is only two days after the lockdown restrictions are over. Should things take a change for the worse this could jeopardise the Festival. They say that a week is a long time in politics. The same could be said for a pandemic. The organisers will be keeping their fingers and toes crossed that the Festival of Turf will go ahead as planned. Let’s hope so. I will be curious to know how many people from Ireland will be travelling as travel restrictions are due to be eased on the 19th of July as well.

Back here in Ireland, the FTMTA have announced that the Farm Machinery Show will take place from February the 3rd - 5th, 2022 at Punchestown Racecourse. The last time this biannual event was held was in 2019. News of the exact plans for the FTMTA event 2022 will be revealed over the coming months as restrictions relating to the Covid-19 pandemic ease.

Another area of concern for our industry is the sharp rise in energy and commodity prices such as copper, aluminium, platinum and rubber. The prices of all products derived from petroleum chemistry are also rising. Non-ferrous metals such as aluminium and copper are also greatly affected by this general price increase. Since April 2020, the price of aluminium has increased by 50%. These raw materials are essential for producing agricultural equipment and will put pressure on machinery prices. Add to this the shortage of ships and containers being available. The prices per container tripled over the last few months from $2,500 to $7,500. This also leads to additional costs and delays to import parts and accessories from Asia into Europe

One of Ireland’s top golf resorts has taken delivery of two new John Deere 9009A TerrainCut rotary rough mowers.

The K Club resort superintendent Gerry Byrne (left) with his deputy Jamie Robson

The famous K Club 5-star golfing resort in Kildare, just half an hour’s drive from Dublin, hosted the Ryder Cup in 2006 as well as the Irish Open in 2016 and 13 European Opens.

When the need arose for new rough mowers at the resort, thorough research was carried out by the greens staff to investigate what each brand had to offer. In the end the John Deere models came out on top, and two 9009A mowers were ordered from local golf & turf dealer Dublin Grass Machinery.

Gerry Byrne has been resort superintendent at The K Club for the past 24 years and is pleased with the machines’ performance. “We recently bought the two new John Deere rotary mowers as we wanted to improve the overall presentation of the rough areas on both the Palmer North and Palmer South courses,” he says. “We carried out extensive research into all the main brands and decided that the 9009A suited our needs best of all.

“I have used John Deere mowers in the past but not that recently, just the company’s tractors. It’s been good to reconnect with Dublin Grass Machinery, as I have known Stan Mitchell and the dealership team since I was a trainee many years ago.

“We have operated other makes of rough mower here, and they carried out a good job of overall course maintenance. However, we felt the more versatile John Deere 9009A mowers would give us a better quality of cut.” he adds.

Most of the servicing and maintenance of the machinery at The K Club is carried out by the resort’s staff mechanic. A good parts and backup service from Dublin Grass Machinery was another influential factor in the purchasing decision for Gerry Byrne and the greenkeeping team.

“Our mechanic Pat Freany has been with us for over 25 years,” he says. “Pat carries out all the servicing and repairs and has a very good working relationship with the dealership. The quick turnaround on parts delivery and service kits is a unique selling point for John Deere, which Pat really appreciates.”

As for future investments in new machinery at The K Club, Gerry Byrne is confident that John Deere will feature again. “The K Club has significant investment plans for the whole estate, and John Deere mowing equipment will certainly be part of our continuing strategy to enhance the overall presentation standards for our members and guests.”

Effective yesterday (1st July 2021), Charterhouse Turf Machinery has officially rebranded to become Redexim.

The company say the product portfolio, premises and personnel will be unaffected, with the change of name bringing the UK into line with the Redexim corporate strategy adopted throughout Europe and the rest of the world.

The relationship between Charterhouse and Redexim has been ongoing for more than 35 years, when Charterhouse were appointed to distribute the Redexim Verti-Drain. The success of this partnership saw Charterhouse become a wholly owned subsidiary of Redexim bv in 1997.

The product portfolio has expanded significantly over the years to incorporate overseeders, topdressers, scarifiers and renovation equipment for natural surfaces, as well as a range of machinery options for artificial playing surfaces.

Commenting on the re-brand in the UK, Redexim chief operating officer Herman de Bree said, “The team at Charterhouse have done a fantastic job over the years at cementing the place of the Redexim natural and artificial ranges with leading turf managers throughout the UK. The time is now right to unify the approach with that adopted throughout the world by delivering sales, service and support under the Redexim banner.

"This will help to strengthen our brand awareness and global corporate identity and streamline our communication with customers around the world.”

The Grounds Management Association has announced that visitor registration for SALTEX 2021 is now officially open at gmasaltex.co.uk.

Taking place at the NEC, Birmingham on 3 and 4 November, SALTEX 2021 will be celebrating its 75th anniversary. Organisers say the show will feature over 400 brands and will offer visitors an opportunity to experience industry trends and innovations, enhance their education and learn from industry experts.

In addition to the opportunities available on the show floor, one lucky visitor will be presented with a battery-powered compact loader from Avant UK worth approximately £30,000. Every person who registers will be in with a chance of winning the prize and the live draw will take place on the first day of the show.  

“The last year has been tough and we know how hard groundspersons and other industry professionals have worked during the pandemic,” said Raimo Ala-Korpi, Avant UK managing director. “We thought it would be good to give something back to the industry.

Visitors to SALTEX 2021 will also feature:

• Eco Village - live demonstrations dedicated to environmentally-friendly products.
• Learning LIVE - free educational programme.
• Pathology and Soil Science LIVE - a look in detail at the symptoms of turfgrass fungal disease problems.
• SALTEX Innovation Award - celebrating the best in new groundscare technology.
• Ask the Expert - free face-to-face turfcare advice.
• Lawn Care Legends LIVE - networking opportunity for landscapers and gardeners.
• Job Clinic - free one-to-one sessions covering CV writing to interview techniques.

“We can’t wait to celebrate SALTEX’s 75th anniversary with the industry,” said Luke Perry, GMA’s commercial & events director. “After a year out, it is finally time to say See You at Saltex.”  

Visitors can register to attend via the website. Visitors will receive a confirmation email with their badge to print and take along to the show, to gain free entry.

AgriArgo UK, the business behind the Argo Tractors UK and Ireland operation, has appointed Mark Dyas to the new role of national parts sales manager, in a move designed to enhance the support it provides for its dealers and for end users of McCormick and Landini tractors.

Mark Dyas

The new position has been created to help dealers of the two marques develop their parts sales business, and to ensure owners of McCormick and Landini tractors have full and fast access to the service consumables and other parts required to keep their tractors operating in the best possible

condition, says Adrian Winnett, managing Ddrector at AgriArgo UK and Ireland.

“This new role is one that will underline and provide a significant boost to our support for both end users and dealers,” believes Adrian.

“We are very pleased to have appointed someone of Mark’s calibre and with his level of experience, which includes a farming background and over twenty years spent working nationally and internationally with tractor manufacturers and parts suppliers."

From a family farm, and with practical hands-on engineering experience, Mark’s career to date has included extensive work across domestic and global farm machinery and equipment companies, including parts sales direct to agricultural businesses and the aftermarket sector, plus dealerships and wholesalers across the UK, Europe and worldwide.

“Our McCormick and Landini dealers have helped us to get where we are, but I’m sure there is a great deal of scope to help them develop their businesses even further and serve end users even better than we’re already doing,” believes Mark.

“We want to ensure our dealers are flying the flag high for our brands, and are as committed to us as we are to them so we can help them achieve their full potential. We have some fantastic world-class products that are a match for anything available, but getting the customer coming back for more is all to do with the dealers, so my role is to help them build their businesses not just on our tractors but also on the products and services they sell to support them."

Adrian Winnett. added, “We know the value of good dealers and the relationships they have with their customers. As the overall network makeup continues to change, we can help them build on that by providing even better levels of support to retain existing customers  and attract new ones as well as ensuring that our ever-expanding dealer network is ideally placed to support customers with all their parts and consumable needs." 

CNH Industrial announced this week that it has entered into an agreement to acquire 100% of the capital stock of Raven Industries, Inc, a US-based precision agriculture technology company.

CNH said in a statement that the deal is expected to be concluded in the fourth quarter of 2021, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including approval of Raven shareholders and receipt of regulatory approvals.

The manufacturer believes the purchase builds upon their long partnership with Raven and will enhance their position in the global agriculture equipment market " . .by adding strong innovation capabilities in autonomous and precision agriculture technology."

Scott Wine, chief executive officer, CNH Industrial, said, "Raven has been a pioneer in precision agriculture for decades, and their deep product experience, customer driven software expertise and engineering acumen offer a significant boost to our capabilities. This acquisition emphasizes our commitment to enhance our precision farming portfolio and aligns with our digital transformation strategy.

"The combination of Raven’s technologies and CNH Industrial’s strong current and new product portfolio will provide our customers with novel, connected technologies, allowing them to be more productive and efficient."

Headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Raven Industries is organised into three business divisions: Applied Technology (precision agriculture), Engineered Films (highperformance specialty films) and Aerostar (aerospace) with consolidated net sales of US$ 348.4 million for the twelve months ended January 31, 2021.

Claas has presented the automotive supplier, Hella, with their Supplier of the Year award in the Innovation category, in a ceremony that had to take place online this year. 

The Hella team receive their prize

In a statement Claas said the presentation acknowledged " . . the high degree of transparency and initiative in the development of new lighting and electronic solutions." 

For several decades now, Hella and Claas have been working together to develop tailor-made lighting and electronic components, from prototype to pre-series to series production.

"I would like to thank the entire Hella team for their great commitment to serving this important customer for us," said Kristian Vuksan, director global sales agricultural, turf and utility machines during the event. "This award is a great honour for us and validates our ability to transfer innovative technologies from the automotive sector to our heavy duty customer segment. This motivates us even more to continue to develop and implement design-driven solutions in a modular manner in conjunction with smaller production volumes."

In the near future, Hella say they will be launching developments such as matrix illumination for the agricultural and construction machinery sector, as well as smart work lamps.

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.