Firstly, thanks to everyone who got in touch regarding our initiative to give all new advertising revenue generated throughout the month of April to the Red Cross. It's heartening to have received such a positive response.

There is still plenty of time of course, if you feel like you would like your company to get involved. If you' want to place a digital advert next month, knowing that 100% of what you pay will go towards helping those suffering in Ukraine, please do contact Nikki who will be delighted to help.

Show time once again

Trying to put awful world events to one side for a moment, as an industry we're moving into a period where some of our major national get-togethers are on the brink of taking place in-person again. We have to wait until May for the rearranged LAMMA - who have announced a new addition to their show today - but next week it's BTME in Harrogate.

Usually kicking off the turf care year in January, it'll be interesting to see how many visitors make the trip to north Yorkshire in March - a time of year that I believe can be particularly busy for the golf greenkeepers whom the show is principally aimed at. Hopefully the timing will at least eliminate the threat of getting snowed in!

Service Dealer and TurfPro will be covering the exhibition, so do please say hello if you see us wondering around the halls.

To get myself back in the zone of experiencing a trade event in real life again (because SALTEX was a while ago now), last week I traveled into London to attend a great little show, aimed specifically at journalists working in the horticultural sector. Called the Garden Press Event and held at the Business Design Centre in Islington, it's open only to writers who represent newspapers, magazines, websites, blogs and the like, who are serving gardeners.

Unlike myself, most other attendees won't be working for a trade-only title. They will be sourcing information that they can pass on to their readers who will be members of the gardening public - or to put it another way, customers.

Pre-pandemic, I'd been attending the show every year and it had been encouraging to see more and more domestic machinery manufacturers exhibiting each time. Seeing them alongside the more garden centre-centric companies hawking their seeds, gloves, trowels and such like, I've always thought it is a good sign that companies which our specialist dealer readers represent, see value in attending this show. Promoting themselves to mainstream outlets that buying customers will actually read and pay attention to, can only be a positive, pro-active move.

However, whether it was because last week was the first one back following the enforced break or for some other reason, it was slightly disappointing to discover fewer companies who represent the machinery side of the domestic sector were there this time around. But those that were, all had a positive message to get across to the journos in attendance.

Battery to the fore

A couple of editions back this message was very much about robotic mowers, with most machinery companies selling the benefits of their version of the technology. Whilst those machines were still in evidence this year, it was battery-powered tools in particular that were very much to the fore. It felt that manufacturers knew if lawnmowers were to gain any column inches in a mainstream publication, pushing their environmental credentials would be their way in,

Stiga's Gary Philpott shows Service Dealer owner Duncan Murray-Clarke, around the new Gyro

Of course we know just how hard it's been lately for dealers to get hold of any stock to meet the demand seen from customers - especially of the cordless variety. I must say though, whether it was simply a case of bravado when talking to the press, the message we heard from several suppliers last week was that things were getting better and supply was coming back on stream.

But does this sound right to you? Please feel free to let us know about your recent experiences with getting hold of supply for your dealership in the comments below.

We'll have a bit more detail about some of the machinery seen at the show in the upcoming issue of Service Dealer magazine, but it was good to see Cobra, Husqvarna, STIHL, Stiga, Toro UK, Barrus, Makita, Ambrogio all telling their stories to the writers in attendance.

Toro UK's Craig Hoare speaking with Service Dealer editor, Steve Gibbs

It was also interesting to catch up with Ken Brewster, ex of Husqavrna, in his new role working for BioScapes, the self-contained eco-systems designed to encourage biodiversity in residential settings. This endeavour was very much on trend with the environmentally conscious message that was being spread around the stands.

Steve with Ken Brewster, ex of Husqvarna, now with BioScapes

Hopefully next year a few more machinery companies will choose to re-attend the show. I do think it's a good opportunity for your suppliers to place their goods in front of the people who write about gardening in places that the buying public will actually pay attention to. Machinery used to tend the garden often appears to be overlooked in popular coverage of what is an incredibly well-liked pastime. 

Any chance to publicise the specialist machinery sold by expert dealers, should be embraced with gusto.

The land-based machinery industry has stepped up to offer their help and support to humanitarian efforts in Ukraine.

Following Service Dealer's pledge last week to donate 100% of new advertising revenue generated during the month of April to the British Red Cross, the magazine is delighted to report that the offer has been enthusiastically supported.

With bookings still coming in, any companies that would like to get involved are invited to contact Nikki who will be pleased to help.

News has also emerged this week, of large multi-national manufacturers in our sector, who are taking a central approach to donations.

For example:

• Kubota Holdings Europe B.V. are donating 100 million Japanese yen (about 780,000 Euro) to support Ukrainians impacted by the crisis. The company has said this amount goes to the NGOs providing aid and protection from harm, shelter, food, water, blankets and medical supplies to those in need. 
• STIHL is donating 500,000 euros to help people affected by the war in Ukraine. The donation will be divided equally between the humanitarian aid organizations SOS-Kinderdorf e.V. (SOS Children’s Villages), Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe, UNO-Flüchtlingshilfe e.V. (UN Refugee Aid Germany), and Ärzte ohne Grenzen e. V. (Médecins Sans Frontières). 
• Husqvarna Group has pledged to donate 2,5 m SEK (250 000 USD) to UNICEF and is launching a global fundraising appeal for their employees to help people and communities in need.
• The AGCO Agriculture Foundation (AAF), has made a $100,000 donation to the World Food Program USA (WFPUSA) which will go towards emergency relief efforts to provide food assistance for families affected by the conflict inside Ukraine and neighboring countries.
• CNH Industrial has announced a $500,000 donation to support NGOs who are providing on the ground assistance to those in need. In addition, they say they will establish a global fund to which employees can donate, with the company matching their contributions dollar for dollar. 

TAP, the publishers of Service Dealer, have this week relocated to new office space that boasts superb green credentials.

Owner of the title, Duncan Murray-Clarke said, "In March 2020 we made the decision to close our UK office, as the pandemic started. We’ve waited two long years but we’re so pleased to finally have a new home in Howbery Park, Wallingford. Like many businesses we are introducing the home/office hybrid model and hot-desking."

The new office space is located in beautiful grounds that enjoy Thames river frontage, its own solar farm, a park biodiversity scheme, beehives on site, and there is even a TAP allotment. You can find out more about the mature parkland and unique trees that it is home to, here.

"We’re looking forward to inviting our friends, colleagues and clients here very soon," added Duncan. "All are welcome to come and try our home-grown veg!"

The new trading address is:

Howbery Business Park

Benson Lane

Wallingford

Oxon

OX10 8BA

All other details remain unchanged.

Quoting former Russian Agricultural Minister, Alexander Tkachev, the organisers of YugAgro, the largest Russian farm machinery exhibition, recently said that Russia needs ".. at least 180,000 new tractors and 80,000 new combines" to fill the gap in Russia's total farm machinery pool which has shrunk by more 50% in the last decade.

No wonder major US and European manufacturers have ramped up their presence in Russia over the past 10-15 years. It is a country with huge farming potential, which has been starved of the quantity and quality of tractors and farm machinery it needed to make the most of its natural resources.

In the latest episode of his Inside Agri-Turf podcast, Chris Biddle reports how the leading brands have become firmly embedded in the Russian market, providing much needed expertise and new technology.

Manufacturers such as CLAAS, John Deere, CNH Industrial and AGCO have invested huge sums establishing state of the art production facilities, training and service support in a country where the sheer size of the region presents considerable logistical challenges.

Today everything has come to a shuddering halt.

Sanctions have been imposed and most leading manufacturers have announced that they are halting supplies as a result of Russia's decision to invade and wage war on neighbouring Ukraine, a democratic, independent country.

Chris looks at their presence in the Russian market, and the difficult position they find now themselves in.

Between them, Russia and Ukraine provide almost a third of the world's grain harvest, and Ukraine's production is under threat this year, hit by transport difficulties, shortage of fertiliser and diesel, closure of the ports - not to mention the danger of attack.

He also quotes a Ukrainian farmer, growing wheat and sunflower seeds on 3500 hectares who says, "Today I'm farming wheat, tomorrow I might be shooting Russians" - and who has already modified his farm truck to mount a machine gun.

Chris preludes his analysis with a few words on the day that the Russians came to his home city armed with one of the worlds deadliest nerve agents - and ends by considering whether we need to re-consider our food self-sufficiency in the UK.

NOTE: There are links to the source documents in the Show Notes to the episode (25 minutes)

LISTEN to the episode

BIGGA's exhibition for the golf industry, BTME, returns to an in-person event in Harrogate next week, for the first time since January 2020.

Taking place at the Harrogate Convention Centre, the show runs from Tuesday to Thursday (March 22-24).

The schedule for the events taking place is as follows:

Tuesday 22 March

• 9am BTME Exhibition opens
• 9.15am to 5.30pm Continue to Learn
• 3pm BIGGA AGM
• 5pm Exhibition closes for the day
• 5.30pm BIGGA Welcome Celebration

Wednesday 23 March

• 6.30am Syngenta Early Bird Run
• 9am Exhibition opens
• 9.15am to 5.30pm Continue to Learn
• 5pm Exhibition closes for the day

Thursday 24 March

• 9am Exhibition opens
• 2.30pm Exhibition closes

Free registration for the event can be completed here.

Adding to its learning and development programme, STIHL has launched a new podcast series that they say offers its dealer network an alternative way of learning product and technical information about their range. 

The new podcast series features product experts from the UK and abroad, where they discuss in detail the company's latest range of professional tools and innovations, offering what they describe as "key insights" into the performance and efficiency of the machinery, as well as best practice advice. 

A new podcast episode will be released eacg month, with a wide range of topics promised throughout 2022. These include the new Rapid HEXA cutting system, an overview of the STIHL and iMOW Apps, new brushcutter lines and accessories, and the STIHL Academy.

The podcast is currently available via Spotify, Apple, Amazon Podcasts, Stitcher, Deezer, and Podcastaddict. Listeners can search for “STIHL GB” to access.

Caroline Wallace, head of learning & development at STIHL GB, said, “Our dealer network is the lifeblood of the STIHL business and plays a pivotal role in not only delivering the highest levels of customer service and aftersales support, but also sustaining our position as a first-class machinery provider. 

“We are committed to providing our dealers with as much support as possible and the launch of the new podcast series allows our dealers to digest key product and technical information at a time that is convenient to them, helping to maximise business opportunities moving forward.”

In addition to the podcast series, the manufacturer says they will also be continuing with their product and technical training webinars in 2022. Delivered by STIHL product experts, the webinars are live web-based training sessions that dealer staff can access remotely to keep updated with the latest product information. The webinars are also recorded and uploaded onto STIHL Academy, so dealers can watch the content at another time, as well as referring back to the information for future use. 

Dealers Fentons of Bourne Ltd have been distributors of Homburg drain-cleaning equipment to the agricultural and horticultural sectors for past 28 years.

Now, with the introduction of two new dedicated machines, Homburg are entering the golf sector to help course managers resolve drainage issues.

To alleviate the problem of waterlogging on courses caused by blocked or damaged drainage systems, Homburg has introduced two models, the Blizz and Delta, both tractor mounted and pto-driven pipe cleaning systems. Using an available water source, such as a pond, ditch or attached water bowser, the system is transportable using a 40 hp (or larger) tractor.

Glen Bellamy of Fentons said, “For over 28 years we have represented Homburg Draincleaners in the agricultural and horticultural sectors. This latest venture into the golf sector is another opportunity for us and with significant expertise in this field, we look forward to helping golf courses alleviate any drainage issues they may have.”

The organisers of LAMMA, the agricultural machinery exhibition taking place at Birmingham's NEC, have announced a new feature for their rearranged show in May.

In an official statement the exhibition said, "As well as getting up to date with the latest machinery, technology and other innovations across nine halls visitors can enjoy some nostalgia in our new Classics Zone supported by Classic Tractor magazine.

"Our anniversary celebrations will showcase the incredible progress made across the industry since the first LAMMA Show 40 years ago."

The show went on to say that more new features will be announced in the coming weeks.

Visitors can register for a free ticket to the event here.

As an experienced agricultural engineer, perhaps you're seeking to broaden your horizons across a range of premium machinery brands and products? Possibly you're seeking the opportunity to work for a prominent regional dealership and take on a fresh challenge?

Working hands-on within a small team for our client, a well-established and respected agricultural business with a wide cross-section of franchises, you will use your mechanical knowledge and expertise to provide maintenance, diagnostics and repair services across a diverse range of agricultural machinery from tractors to cultivators, sprayers to ATVs and everything in between.

What you will have:

• In-depth knowledge and professional experience of agricultural machinery
• Ability to build strong relationships within the team and with customers
• Experience with leading tractor brands is essential
• Excellent understanding of UK agricultural practices
• Self-motivated and competent at managing time/workload
• Full, clean, UK driving licence

What you can expect:

• Competitive salary package to reflect your skills and experience
• Relocation package
• Overtime paid at 1.5 hourly rate
• Commitment to your long-term professional development
• Exposure to broad range of leading brands in agricultural machinery

To apply:

Please email your CV and covering letter to jon.handley@delacyexecutive.co.uk

For more information and an informal confidential discussion please call:

Jon Handley on DDI: 01885 485522

De Lacy Executive will upload your CV to our database and retain some data about you in order to process your application. More information about our processing activities can be found at www.delacyexecutive.co.uk/privacypolicy. Please be assured that all contact is treated in complete confidence and your details will not be passed to a third party without your prior permission.

Please note that this advertisement is not a job description and you should satisfy yourself about the full details at interview.

De Lacy Executive is an Approved member of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, which promotes high standards in recruitment practice, and is registered with the Information Commissioners Office. De Lacy Executive complies with all relevant data protection legislation.

Are you an experienced salesperson with a strong background in agricultural machinery? Do you seek to broaden your horizons across a wide product range of leading machinery brands for a reputable business? If any of this rings true, we'd like to hear from you.

Working within a motivated and supportive team for our client, a well established and respected agricultural business with a wide cross-section of franchises, you will use your agricultural machinery background to maintain existing customer networks with plenty of scope for generating new business. You will ideally come from a whole goods background although, parts experience may well be of interest to our client. You will sell across a broad range of well-known products from tractors to cultivators, sprayers to ATVs and everything in between.

What you will have:

• Proven sales credentials within the agricultural machinery sector, ideally with whole goods
• Experience of CNH tractors would be preferred
• A passion for tractors and anything that can be attached to them
• Strong relationship building skills
• Ability to understand and communicate across the farming community

What you can expect:

• Generous salary package
• Company vehicle
• Exposure to a wide portfolio of leading machinery brands

To apply:

Please email your CV and covering letter to jon.handley@delacyexecutive.co.uk

For more information and an informal confidential discussion please call:

Jon Handley on DDI: 01885 485522

De Lacy Executive will upload your CV to our database and retain some data about you in order to process your application. More information about our processing activities can be found at www.delacyexecutive.co.uk/privacypolicy. Please be assured that all contact is treated in complete confidence and your details will not be passed to a third party without your prior permission.

Please note that this advertisement is not a job description and you should satisfy yourself about the full details at interview.

De Lacy Executive is an Approved member of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, which promotes high standards in recruitment practice, and is registered with the Information Commissioners Office. De Lacy Executive complies with all relevant data protection legislation.

The new 80V cordless range of lawnmowers from Cobra packs double the punch, with twin 40V Lithium-ion batteries delivering 80 volts of pure cutting power. 

Cobra has the UK’s largest range of powered lawnmowers and is constantly expanding its range and developing its products to further its position as the expert in the lawncare market. The 80V range is the latest extension of this, with its three models being packed with innovative features and technology. 

The three mowers in the range offer 17”, 20” and 21” cutting widths, generous run times and even rear rollers on the 17 and 20” models for a traditional, striped finish. Each machine is powered by two 5Ah 40V Lithium-ion batteries that drive the 80V brushless motors. The Cobra 40V Lithium-ion technology means the mowers are always ready to use, will hold charge capacity and have no memory effect. 

The RM43SP80V is the most compact of the three, with a 17” cutting width, and it is a great all-rounder, with a 50 minute run time. It is self-propelled, so it’s ideal for sloping gardens and has seven different cutting heights ranging from 17mm for a super low finish, up to 75mm for tackling longer grass. The mower also benefits from a 50 litre grass bag to hold more cutting for a longer time between bag emptying. Its rear roller means that a professional, striped finish can be created too. 

The RM51SP80V keeps all of the impressive features of the RM43SP80V, including a steel rear roller, but increases the width to 20” and the grass bag to 70 litres. With the ability to run for up to 45 minutes between charges, the mower can complete medium to large sized lawns in one run. 

The final, and largest, mower in the range is the Which? Best Buy MX51S80V. Again, the mower features a self-propelled drive system to allow for ease of use, and has a 20” cutting width and a running time of 55 minutes. This model benefits from a mulching function, allowing the grass to be recycled by finely cutting and re-cutting the clippings. As the clippings decompose, nutrients and fertilisers are returned to the soil meaning grass can be cut and fertilised at the same time – creating a healthy, green lawn. 

Peter Chaloner, managing director of Cobra, said, “The 80V range sets a new standard for battery powered garden machinery, providing more power and convenience than ever before. Cobra prides itself on being at the forefront of innovation to help people maintain their gardens with the minimum of effort, and this range is the epitome of that.” 

Each of the models comes complete with two 40V 5Ah Lithium-ion batteries and two Fast Chargers. The 40v batteries are compatible with Cobra grass trimmers, chainsaws, hedge cutters and garden vacs. 

For more information on Cobra visit: www.cobragarden.co.uk 

or to become a Cobra dealer, please contact Andy Marvin on: 07771 581 296 or call our sales team: 0115 986 6646 today.

Our 2020 Summer research showed that on average, each Garden Trader dealer will be sent 114 new customers (or people with a buying intention walking through your door) per year.  This works out at 83p for each new customer. A subscription rate designed to be all inclusive delivering unrivalled online results.  

This site was purpose-built just for skilled servicing ground care dealers by the team that bring you Service Dealer Magazine. It is easy and quick to register and costs just £96 + VAT per year for a full listing.  As this dealer site is designed to promote the UK dealer network, all revenues in 2022 will continue to be reinvested into promoting the site online and so supporting the dealer network.

Join the country’s only independent specialist website, created by the team that bring you Service Dealer. Join our subscribed Garden Trader dealers now by clicking on “Register Dealership” and let's fight back against the zero value retailers.

Map of dealerships registered with Garden Trader

FIND OUT MORE