Increased investment in staff and facilities at Agrovista’s Sprayer Care business has resulted in significant growth this year, with more customers using its specialist maintenance and parts service as well as sprayer sales.
The Dundee-based operation is inviting existing and new customers to an open day on 1 November, where they can find out first-hand what the business has to offer.
Stephen Dunning was appointed to a new role of engineering and sales manager in February to run the business and provide more strategic input.
“We have really started to push Sprayer Care forward this year,” says Stephen, who has over 30 years of engineering and sales experience in the sprayer sector.
“We have four engineers at the Dundee depot, including Ross Butchart who started in May as senior engineer, who looks after the day-to-day running of the workshop and on-farm maintenance. We also have a full-time stores manager at Dundee and an engineer at Kelso.
“We cover all of Scotland and a chunk of northern England. We sell new machines, mainly from specialist sprayer manufacturers Hardi, Bateman, Chafer, Knight and Team, and we also test, service, and repair sprayers of any make and size from the smallest amenity machines up to largest broad-acre self-propelled sprayers.
“They all get the same attention, so customers know their machines are delivering the best return from expensive inputs and protecting sizeable crop investments.”
The Dundee depot at West Adamson Farm, Muirhead has a dedicated parts counter covering most sprayer makes; it also delivers to all areas of the UK. The depot also carries a large stock of nozzles from leading brands which can also be shipped nationwide.
Recent developments include improved workshop facilities, parts provision and stores at Dundee and new, larger vehicles to improve and expand the on-farm service.
“The new fleet is a big improvement that gives us more scope to carry parts and do on-site repairs,” says Stephen.
“We have also been delivering more new machines and have turned over a wide range of second-hand machines. This has resulted in increased service business and we are seeing a lot more footfall at the parts counter.”
Jonathan Cahalin, Agrovista’s head of arable in Scotland, says Sprayer Care is becoming an increasingly important and integrated part of Agrovista’s crop production business.
“Stephen brings vast experience and professionalism to Sprayer Care, which I believe is now in really good hands; he has a really good team in place and we are already seeing the benefit of his experience as he drives the business forward.
“Growers increasingly need good service and fast turnaround to keep sprayers running at their optimum, especially as they become more and more complex. Agrovista is very much committed to this area of the business and its expansion.”