TAKING LOW ground pressure to the extreme… German hovercraft manufacturer KaiserKraft has developed a vessel for agricultural applications.

Extensive testing last spring allowed the company to evaluate its Grosse Luge Mk1 as a vehicle for fertiliser spreading.

“Initially it was found that the propulsion fan disrupted the spread pattern too much,” says project director Prof Diettrich Loda-Pollocks.

“But our design team soon turned this to an advantage – fertiliser is fed through the fan, which distributes it across an 18m working width.”

The same technique has been used to spread other materials such as cereal seed and slug pellets.

Particular success was achieved with pelleted manure from housed bullocks, reports Prof Loda-Pollocks.