Case Study: Developing a new machine

Article taken from Arable Farming Magazine

Unable to find an applicator to meet his requirements, Yorkshire farmer and contractor Neil Welburn developed an Avadex application in conjunction with his Agrovista agronomist Simon Vaux and contractor Richard Lapage of R. and H. Contract Services. Mr Welburn says: “The demand for Avadex has been increasing over the last few years as growers look for a solution to their difficult to control blackgrass. Our new applicator makes its application much more accurate. “The new machine covers the ground quickly, so we get more acres treated in a day. Farmers work to a tight schedule and everything on farm has sped up. We need matching increased work rate with the applicator.”

The 24 metre boom applicator is mounted on a small tractor with large wheels, which allows the whole system to tread more lightly and allows access to the land when required, he adds. Mr Vaux says: “Certainly in the last few years, tri-allate, which has unbelievably been on the market for more than 50 years with no change in its resistance status. Has become an integral part of our strategy today and is an essential residual to include in the mix.
“I think it makes a big difference to the end result.
“We have found it is not always easy to get the product applied accurately. You do not want to be overdosing or underdoising.
“Neil and I went to Agritechnica last year to seek out a suitable machinery solution, but we did not see what we were looking for. “Some of the existing machines did not have a wide enough boom, and more importantly, some were not delivering the precise amount of granules down each pip.”