The Garden Media Guild awards took place in London yesterday - an interesting event from my perspective, as representing a trade journal, I tend to lose focus sometimes that our industry is part of a utterly mainstream and incredibly popular pastime.

Gardening as a hobby seems bigger than its ever been and judging by the awards being given out yesterday for categories including podcasts and social media influencers, is one that is now attracting a younger, more urban demographic as well as its traditional advocates.

OK, so lawnmowers, brushcutters, chainsaws and the like didn't get a look in amongst all the recognition for flowers and planting, but the machinery side of the industry was represented by some familiar companies sponsoring awards. Honda presented Website of the Year; STIHL gave out the Journalist of the Year; Cobra sponsored the Digital Innovation Award; and Briggs & Stratton awarded the News Journalist of the Year.

It's probably worthwhile reminding ourselves sometimes that this industry does enjoy mass appeal. I was talking to some gardening journalists from mainstream publications yesterday, who when they found out I worked for a title concerned with the machinery side of the industry, were very interested in quizzing me about the new technologies coming through.

Robotic mowers in particular seemed of interest. It appeared that these machines hold real intrigue. The people I spoke to, who were reflecting the views of their gardening readerships, were genuinely curious about where the technologies are heading. I'm not saying they believed all their readers were going to rush out this weekend to buy a new robot, but they clearly felt something was changing with their popularity. 

What it indicated to me was just how important it is that specialist dealers make sure they are leaders and the trusted experts when it comes to explaining and selling these products.

One journalist said to me how they were put off from trying out a robot because they thought it would be too complicated to set up. They were genuinely surprised when I pointed out this would be the job of their local dealer!

What this proves yet again, is just how vital it is that dealers continually promote themselves and all the services they can offer to their local communities. If it's possible that a gardening journalist doesn't know what their dealer can do for them, it makes one worry just how many other people wouldn't have a clue either.

The event yesterday proved once again the value of new media in reaching a targeted audience - tools which are of course available for anyone to utilise. With Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and the like dealers are able to get their message out, direct to their customers - at little or no expense.

A regular drip-feed of information from their local dealer about what tools can help gardeners with their current tasks, and how you can help them use and understand those tools, would go a long way in raising both your profile and awareness of how you can be of assistance.

Make no mistake, there are people out there who want this information. And more importantly they want this information from someone they can trust and who knows their subject inside and out.

Specialist dealers really have the opportunity to position themselves as the true experts at the forefront of this exciting developing technology.

Carlisle-based Lloyd Ltd has expanded the services it provides for customers in the construction and hire markets - which they say has brought significant benefits for both themselves and Bobcat.

They say results have been especially impressive in product and aftermarket sales for the Bobcat range of compact loaders, compact excavators and attachments. As well as the construction and rental markets, the other main sectors for Lloyd are agriculture, groundcare and materials handling, where they say sales of Bobcat equipment have also increased.

Lloyd Ltd in Bishop Auckland recently hosted the 2018 Bobcat Customer Roadshow

This has been supported by Lloyd’s own finance team, with a wide choice of finance options available to suit different customers in the market. It is one of the advantages that arises from cross-fertilisation with the motor vehicle side of the Lloyd business, covering the same areas in the North of England and the South of Scotland.

Alistair Whitby, dealer principal at the Lloyd branch in Bishop Auckland, said, “The expansion in construction has delivered a 20% rise in Bobcat business. This is backed by similar increases in the number of finance packages we have sold. We are also investing heavily in our facilities and processes to ensure that it is even easier for new and existing Bobcat customers to do business with us. The Construction side is headed by our construction sales manager, Chris Stephenson, who runs out of Bishop Auckland and Newcastle.”

As well as building new premises for the Penrith branch, Lloyd say the construction expansion includes new investments in facilities together worth over £7 million, including refurbishment of the Carlisle, Newcastle and Kelso branches. The investment also includes a new facility Lloyd Ltd is planning opposite the current Bishop Auckland branch, where a new 2900 m2 building will be constructed on company-owned land that will offer an outstanding showroom, triple workshop area and a training centre.

In the six years the company has been a Bobcat dealer, Lloyd has developed very close ties with Bobcat, with regular focus meetings with Paul Hyslop, the Bobcat District Manager UK North. The focus meetings explore every aspect of the Bobcat-Lloyd relationship, with a key discussion being customer focused actions to ensure the right customers are targeted with the right solutions and including forward planning on stocks of Bobcat products to help optimise lead times for customers.

Paul Hyslop commented, “I have been very pleased with the strides taken over the last two years by Lloyd, which have provided a significant boost to Bobcat sales in the areas they cover. I was delighted that Bishop Auckland was able to host the recent 2018 Bobcat Customer Roadshow as it toured England and Scotland, providing a great Bobcat experience for existing and prospective customers alike.”

John Deere has again earned a spot among the world’s most valuable brands in an annual ranking completed by brand consulting firm Interbrand.

The manufacturer is now ranked 88th in the Best Global Brands research announced recently, moving up four spots from a year ago. Interbrand estimates the John Deere brand to now be worth approximately $5.4 billion, a 12 per cent increase on last year.

“A decade after the global financial crisis, the brands that are growing fastest are those that intuitively understand their customers and make brave iconic moves that delight and deliver in new ways,” said Charles Trevail, Interbrand’s global chief executive officer. Interbrand said its brand valuation is based on three key areas - financial performance of the brand; the brand’s influence on purchase decisions; and the brand’s strength to create loyalty and sustainable customer demand.

“This recognition emphasises the success of our 70,000 employees worldwide who work each day to deliver on the company’s core values of integrity, quality, commitment and innovation,” said Samuel R Allen, Deere & Company chairman and chief executive officer.

John Deere has been included in the Best Global Brand ranking since 2011, when Interbrand estimated the value of the John Deere brand to be $3.65 billion. The Interbrand methodology was the first of its kind to be certified by the International Organisation for Standardisation requirements for monetary brand valuation.

Bernhard and Company has announced that Stuart Hall has recently joined as its customer care manager.

Stuart has moved from Reesink Turfcare UK Ltd, distributor for Toro, where he was service manager for East Anglia. His previous role was service manager for P. Tuckwell, a John Deere dealership.

Managing a rapidly growing turf workshop for both companies, he covered Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire for the John Deere range of professional turf equipment and the whole of East Anglia for Reesink Turfcare, including routine servicing, emergency repairs, cylinder grinding and winter overhauls.

Bernhard say that with his strong background in agricultural engineering and his experience in all aspects of greenkeeping, machinery maintenance and customer service, Stuart is going to be a key asset for themselves. 

“We are delighted to have Stuart on board,” says Steven Nixon, director of Bernhard and Company. “Stuart greatly strengthens our ability to support our customers and business partners, both existing and future, helping them from installation through to training, delivering service and supporting all our current solutions. We are now even better equipped to see projects through from conception to completion, offering expertise and assistance all the way.”

Stuart added, “I have followed Bernhard and Company closely over the years and I have always been impressed by the level of customer service, training and education that it provides, This is an exciting time for me to join the company as it progresses on developing turf health solutions and ensuring that customers get the support they require. I really look forward to working closely with Bernhard’s global customer base and supporting the Bernhard team in the field.”

On the first day of SALTEX 2018, Sherriff Amenity’s new app, PrecisionPro, was announced as the winner of the second, annual SALTEX Innovation Award.

Sherriff Amenity celebrate their SALTEX Innovation Award 2018

Established at the show in 2017, the SALTEX Innovation Award was created to encourage innovation excellence and celebrate the best products within the groundscare industry. The organisers say the award is bestowed on projects that have a significant impact and ultimately make life easier for the person using them.

SALTEX say this year’s awards received a record number of high quality entries from across the UK and beyond - spanning a wide variety of products, services and equipment. With the entries submitted and rigorously evaluated by an independent panel of judges, it was decided that there were three stand-out innovations - the Toro Outcross 9060 from Reesink Turfcare, PrecisionPro from Sherriff Amenity and the ROBOCUT from McConnel.

The three finalists were given a final opportunity to impress the judges as they took to the stage in the all new Innovation Hub. Representatives from each company delivered a product presentation in front of a packed audience causing the judges much deliberation before making their final decision.

Sherriff Amenity’s PrecisionPro was pronounced the overall winner. Second place went to the Toro Outcross 9060; a super-duty utility vehicle, designed specifically to simplify the groundsman’s day-to-day turf maintenance jobs. Third place went to the McConnel ROBOCUT; an all-terrain remote-control work platform that boosts safety, productivity and efficiency.

The winning innovation, PrecisionPro, is a dedicated app for sports turf to measure any area, guide the operator in calibrating a spreader for any granular product and also help apply fertilisers accurately.

According to Sherriff Amenity, PrecisionPro was created due to the common issue of turf managers misjudging green/sport surface size which often results in problems such as over applying or under applying fertilisers - both of which can have a negative effect on turf performance, disease and budget.

Commenting on the award, Karl Parry, Sherriff Amenity’s PrecisionPro developer, said, “We are really excited to win this award. PrecisionPro has been a long time in the making but it has all been made worthwhile now."

Landscaping, horticulture and agricultural engineering students at the unique SRUC Oatridge campus in West Lothian near Edinburgh recently participated in an event which gave them the opportunity to learn more about Pellenc’s battery technology and gain some hands on experience with a wide range of equipment.

SRUC Oatridge students introduced to Pellenc battery-powered equipment

SRUC College is a bespoke land based industries institution based throughout Scotland which offers a number of courses at all levels from college and university level study, through to postgraduate, consultancy and research opportunities. Many of the courses at the Oatridge campus relate to the ways in which we make use of the land and natural resources around us - from agriculture and horticulture to veterinary nursing and equestrianism, and a huge variety of land based topics in between.

The College has a philosophy of continuously exploring the science that supports these land-based industries, and the way they interact with and support the environment around them. It is for this reason that Thomas Meenagh, a horticulture lecturer at Oatridge, decided that it would be a good idea for the students to become familiar with the increasingly popular battery powered machinery.

“I think that in every walk of society it is becoming common knowledge that we should be more environmentally friendly and be producing less CO2 and greenhouse gasses. An awful lot of hand held powered equipment used in land based industries comes with two-stroke engines which burn off fuel and oil, and so it is good to see the likes of landscaping and horticulture industries moving towards battery powered machinery.

“As a teaching institution we should be ahead of the game; we should be at the forefront of this kind of development - so that is why I wanted to organise some kind of event which could introduce the students to this equipment.”

Having being in the market to buy some battery powered equipment, Thomas’ research led him to Pellenc, which is exclusively distributed in the UK and Ireland by Etesia. He arranged for four sessions to take place over two days in which Etesia representatives firstly delivered a theory based session which offered a greater insight into the Pellenc technology, followed by a practical demonstration. The students were then invited to trial the equipment for themselves.

“The students were delighted because they got to use the equipment to cut hedges, cut grass, use brush cutters and much more. The feedback was excellent and they were very impressed with the equipment. They commented on it being really light - a lot lighter than equipment they had been exposed to in the past. They also remarked on the equipment having very low vibration, being very quiet and extremely efficient.”

In reflecting on a successful event, Thomas believes that it was essential that the students got a first glimpse of the products that they could very well be using on a regular basis in the future.

“I would anticipate that in five years from now this kind of equipment will be the norm throughout the industry. By the time the students graduate and get jobs no doubt the two stroke fuel equipment will become less and less common and the battery powered equipment will be more dominant in the workplace."

Highly-experienced agricultural industry professional Rob Dunk is the new sales manager, UK and Ireland, for Claydon.

Rob Dunk

Rob has extensive experience in sales management and distribution development, together with a proven track record in the sale of capital equipment within the UK and Ireland. A key part of his remit will be to expand the company’s distribution network.

Rob said, “Claydon has a very loyal customer base and its products are highly regarded for their quality, performance, reliability and low ownership costs, so I will be working closely with our dealers to ensure that potential customers are fully aware of the advantages.

“The changes within the farming sector present an excellent opportunity, so we are looking to develop the potential of the Claydon range by increasing sales through existing dealers and making additional appointments in areas where we are not currently represented. This will benefit owners of Claydon products by providing more local points of contact and reassure potential customers of excellent service support."

Rob joined Claydon at the beginning of November 2018. Commercial director Spencer Claydon said, “We are delighted that Rob has joined us, as his enormous experience and expertise within the UK and Ireland will be invaluable in developing our domestic market.”

Award sponsors Toro and Reesink Turfcare, an official UK Toro distributor, say they were delighted to announce Matthew Skingle from Coventry City Training Ground as the winner of the Most Promising Student of the Year Award at the tenth annual Institute of Groundsmanship (IOG) Awards recently.

Matthew, who was presented his award by Reesink’s Alastair Rowell, was recognised as an ambitious and passionate groundsman who has plans to use his award to encourage others, particularly younger people, into the industry.

Matthew Skingle with Reesink’s Alastair Rowell

Matthew, who has wanted to pursue a career in the industry since first getting a taste for groundskeeping at a young age, said, “The industry as it stands consists mostly of an older generation, which is great on one hand because they have a lot of experience we can learn from, but we need to ensure the industry has a future.

“I’d love to inspire young people. I really benefitted from work experience in the industry through school and wouldn’t ever have considered a career as a groundsman without it. It gave me the chance to see what it was like. So, I think we should do more to get out there and show younger people what it’s really like.”

After a successful year studying at South Essex College while working at Coventry City, Matthew is now working full-time as a groundsman at the club. “It was great to do the course and expand on my knowledge,” he says. “I’ve learned a lot in this past year and I know I’m really lucky to be part of such a great team.”

Speaking of the awards, he said: “I was so shocked when I found out I’d won. I wasn’t expecting to be a finalist so even that was an honour in itself. The competition was tough, and the other finalist was really deserving as well, so I was chuffed to win. I’m really grateful that Toro sponsors the award as I believe this will give me a platform that will help my career.”

He continues: “In this industry if you work hard, you can get far and that’s what I intend to do. I’d like to be head groundsman at a stadium one day, or even a pitch advisor for IOG. The opportunities are limitless.”

Marketing manager at Reesink Turfcare, Holly Jones, said, “Encouraging and supporting young talent in the grounds industry is a hugely important undertaking for us and sponsoring this award demonstrates Toro’s long-term commitment to the development of the industry and our investment in the careers of young people. This is a wonderful achievement for Matthew, and we hope the award continues to encourage more young talent like himself. We will follow his career with great interest.”

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