Cereals 2009: Machinery at work sure to pull the crowds
It’s all very well kicking tyres on shiny machinery shown in static exhibits at Cereals 2009, but what some visitors want to see is some action. Peter Hill reviews what will provide it at this year’s event.
Although manufacturers that have booked demonstration plots at the Cereals event will be able to put their machinery through its paces at any time, the organisers have introduced a timetable that guarantees a plot will be in action with a supporting commentary.
“By having a timetable, visitors will know when machines will be in action and they’ll have no difficulty finding out the main features and benefits of the equipment being demonstrated,” says Jon Day, Haymarket’s event presenter. “It will be up to the manufacturers to put on a good show and be as informative as possible with their commentaries.”
There will be several items of new kit – and new tractors – on the demonstration plots this year, including new cultivation implements from Imants, Spaldings, Quivogne, Terrington Machinery and Vogel & Noot.
Guided and automatic steering for precision farming will also be in the spotlight, with Massey Ferguson, Trimble, Topcon and Soilessentials with the Leica Geosystems Mojo GPS system all keen to show the accuracy and potential uses for their technology.
Group 1 – demonstrations with commentary from 9.30am and from 1.30pm
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Massey Ferguson 8690 Dyna-VT features novel emissions control. |
Agco
First outing for 370hp Massey Ferguson 8690 Dyna-VT, flagship model of the new 8600 Series powered by Sisu 8.4-litre six-cylinder engine with urea injection for NoX emissions control driving through uprated Dyna-VT stepless transmission. Also, 230/245hp MF6499 Dyna-VT with new styling and revised front axle, front linkage, etc, operating with Auto-Guide automatic steering, and 157/170hp MF6480 working Massey Ferguson reversible plough.
Imants UK
Spading-action cultivator with seeder and tractor front-mounted hopper for one-pass cultivation and crop establishment, plus new heavier-duty 57-series model requiring 230-240hp tractor and capable of working faster (9-9.5km/hr) and 10cm deeper than 47-series design.
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Latest Fastrac range now has four versions topped by this 270hp model. |
Working debut for 270hp addition to JCB 7000 Series Fastrac range equipped with JCB-built 24x 12 manual/auto P-Tronic transmission with six powershift speeds, new cab and electronic self-levelling suspension front and rear. Working alongside 2000, 3000 and 8000 Series Fastrac tractors.
Series 2 twin-row Disc Tool Bar, comprising opposed dished and serrated discs on rubber-cushioned arms, for fitment to new or in-service Spaldings Flatlift subsoiler. Provides one-pass surface cultivation to 100mm depth and deeper soil loosening, plus optional broadcast seeding. Also, Flatlift subsoiler, spiked packer roller and cultivator with disc unit.
Bertini 6m no-till drill, sowing 31 rows at 19cm separation row width by disc openers mounted on Bertini parallelogram linkage, with double hopper and two 81-speed gearboxes for seed and fertiliser, plus individual markers.
Topcon Europe
Precision farming equipment for guidance, auto-steer and mapping.
Demonstrating full range of machinery guidance systems – EZ-Guide 250, EZ-Guide 500, EZ-Steer and RTK Autopilot – plus two new products: the FmX full-colour touch screen display with integrated GPS and GLONNAS receivers; and Trimble TruTracker implement steering to guide implements to accurately follow the tractor’s path regardless of terrain or soil condition. Also demonstration all the available correction services – EGNOS, Omnistar HP, Trimble RTK (GLONNAS + GPS), Trimble VRS.
Group 2 – demonstrations with commentary from 11.30am and from 3.30pm
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Disc depth on Cousins Patriot can be altered on the move. |
Patriot soil-loosening disc cultivator with subsoiling tines adjustable for 150mm to 400mm depth, followed by two rows of 500mm diameter discs individually mounted on rubber-cushioned arms with hydraulic on-the-move depth adjustment and turnbuckle pitch adjustment to vary front row aggression. Razor Ring press at 150mm or 200mm spacing provides depth control and firms tilth.
Mounted reversible plough in 5+1 format from Dowdeswell 140 Series in-furrow range of four- to seven-furrow ploughs for tractors up to 300hp. Available with shearbolt protection and mechanical or hydraulic width adjustment or auto-reset with mechanical width settings. Also demonstrating tractor front-mounted swing-over furrow press linkage.
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Quivogne Saturn has side-curved tines for shallow soil loosening ahead of cutting and mixing discs. |
The new Saturn cultivator has 12 sideways-curved tines designed to loosen soil to a shallow depth for aeration and drainage, then two rows of wavy-edge discs to cut, mix and level the surface without inverting while also providing depth control. The implement can be paired with Quivogne’s SCD subsoiler for deeper soil loosening. Also, 6.3m Jupiter heavy spring tine cultivator and 3.0m Pluto tine/disc/harrow/press implement.
In addition to mojoRTK high-precision GPS, Soilessentials will show mojoGLIDE, a new dual-frequency GPS system from Leica Geosystems providing +/- 15-20cm accuracy for operations needing less than the greatest accuracy.
Sumo implements for stubble and secondary cultivation, including subsoil loosening, and seeding.
New Rigidisk combination primary and secondary cultivator from Bugnot of France comprises two rows of rigid tines with non-stop break-back protection, followed by two rows of conventional disc gangs to mix straw, stubble and soil, then choice of finishing harrow or packer. Sizes from 3m to 5.7m. Also, 6m Einbock Typhoon universal spring tine cultivator with high under-frame clearance; Twister tractor-mounted “short” disc harrow; and oilseed rape seeder box on five-leg Agric subsoiler with hydraulic reset tines.
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TerraCult stubble cultivator is one implement being shown by new Vogel & Noot marketing team. |
New independent marketing and distribution team to demonstrate Arterra MS300 power harrow with VN 3.0m pneumatic seed drill; ArterraGrip heavy-duty power harrow with longer tines for stubble and pre-cultivating soil working; TerraCult stubble cultivator with “A” shares on pigtail tines following by mixing/levelling discs; and XS 950 Vario five-furrow reversible plough with hydraulic width adjustment.
- For details of what’s new among the static exhibits at the Cereals Event, see the official programme published as a supplement to the 29 May edition of Farmers Weekly.
A new no-till seed drill set to make its UK debut at the Cereals event features a minimum-disturbance arrowhead opener for both seed and fertiliser placement and is designed to work without any closing device.
The Quasar seeder is made in Italy by Tonutti, an equipment manufacturer better known in Britain for its big finger-wheel grass and straw rakes. The company teamed up with Italian grower and no-till enthusiast Mauro Collovati to develop the seeder and his novel opener design.
Mr Collovati engineered the winged opener that bears his name so that he could adopt the sort of no-till practices seen in North America, but without using the openers that he felt were inappropriate for the soils he farms in north-east Italy.
His low-draft design is shaped with upturned wing ends to control the flow of soil over the opener so that instead of being thrown sideways it falls back on to the seed. It will also cope with large quantities of surface material, says Mr Collovati.
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It places fertiliser in a shallow trough a little below the seeding depth, while the seed itself is broadcast in a band from outlets either side of the point assembly. A conversion kit for the trailed drill enables it to precision-sow large seed such as maize as well as grain and oilseeds.
The trailed Quasar drill has break-back shanks arranged in three rows, with depth control provided by leading wheels and a row of consolidation tyres along the back of the frame. The seed hopper is located above the rear-mounted transport wheels to minimise the effect of its changing weight.
Tonutti importer Sunshine Agriculture will show the new machine, hoping to capitalise on the growing interest in no-till techniques.
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