Potato Review

58 POTATO REVIEW JULY/AUGUST 2021 MACHINERY Diquat loss sparks surge of topper inquiries from Scotland A SURGE of enquiries from Scottish growers has prompted Scotts PrecisionManufacturing to extend its distribution network by appointing a new sales and service agent to cover Scotland. e Boston manufacturer of vegetable harvesting and cleaning equipment has appointed Vegcraft Agricultural Engineering, based near Dundee, Angus, to o er its range of Trinity toppers, Microlift Pro fully-mounted windrowers and harvesters, Evolution separators and latest Grimme GT170Windrower conversion kits Scotts’ Managing Director Derek Scott said: “We have been looking carefully for the right partner in Scotland who we feel is on the same wavelength. Vegcraft popped up on our radar after an enquiry by GillanMcDonald for a harvester upgrade. e conversation soon came round to haulm topping and it very quickly became apparent that we both could bene t each other’s businesses by partnering up.” He said there had been a signi cant rise in enquiries from Scotland and Scotts had struggled to respond, particularly with the Covid-19 pandemic limiting travel. “Having a specialist vegetablemachinery dealer at the heart of Scotland’s potato growing in the areamakes a great deal of sense,” says Derek Scott, managing director of Scotts Precision Manufacturing. “Gillan, Adamand their teamare clearly very good at what they do andwe’re really looking forward to working with them.” Vegcraft was established in 1990 and today focuses on farming, manufacturing of agricultural machinery such as trailers, bowsers and sprayer lling systems, and machinery sales, including Irrifrance, Oro ex and Euromacchine. GillanMcDonald, Sales Manager at Vegcraft, said the banning of Diquat had sparked a dramatic increase in toppers’ use. e appointment of Vegcraft follows a recent announcement that Scotts was working closely with Russell Price Farm Services to cover the West of England and Yorkshire &Humber to provide service and support to customers in the North of England. New partnership formed AgVantage UK Ltd has formed a new partnership with RWL Services Ltd to enhance support for the Dewulf brand across the UK. RWL Services Ltd was established more than 15 years ago. Managing Director Richard Lapage has more than 25 years experience in the root crop industry and RWL Services Ltd is a main dealer for Horstine Farmery, Team Sprayers and Bye Engineering. It also o ers full servicing, calibration and NSTS testing which includes machine sales, spare parts, tting and support for specialist potato and vegetable application machinery. AgVantage UK Ltd’s Founder andManaging Director, Andy Carse said: “Richard has some great relationships with growers and he shares our company ethos.” Karl Arndt, a familiar face to many having been involved in the root crop industry supporting UK farmers for over 30 years, recently joined the AgVantage team. High-tech precision guidance ANEWhigh-tech precision guidance solution for JCB’s unique Fastrac exploits the tractor’s four-wheel steering system to stay on track when sowing or working in row crops. e Fastrac 4000 Series has multi- mode four-wheel steering for maximum manoeuvrability in di erent situations. e new JCB Twin Steer auto steering option controls the front and rear axles independently, minimising the risk of running over plants when operating an inter-row hoe for weed control. All auto steering systems work by intercepting signals from a constellation of satellites via a receiver mounted on the tractor’s cab roof. JCB Twin Steer exploits the added manoeuvrability of the Fastrac’s multi-mode four-wheel steering system by adding a second receiver mounted directly above the rear axle and installing a second data processor so that the two axles can be controlled individually. is functionality can be used to keep precision weeding cultivators and hoes on track and when forming and planting beds for potatoes.