IAM and Topcon partner for Irish distribution
At the show, Kilkenny-based IAM Agricultural Machinery launched a new partnership with Topcon Agriculture, to become the sole distributor for its portfolio in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
From 1 January 2025, the move will see IAM joining forces with Topcon, which has over 40 years’ experience in agriculture technology for crop and livestock production.
Topcon Positioning Systems is a manufacturer of precision measurement and workflow solutions for the global construction, geospatial and agriculture markets. Topcon Corporation, founded in 1932, is traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The distribution agreement will span Topcon’s complete portfolio of agriculture solutions, including the recently unveiled Value Line autosteering range – designed for farmers using mid-range tractors on small to medium-sized farms.
Farmec appointed as Ovlac’s new Irish distributor
Ovlac used the FTMTA show to publicly announce the appointment of Co Meath-based machinery importer Farmec Ireland Ltd as its new distributor for Ireland. Farmec will retail the equipment through its established Irish dealer network.
A family-owned company manufacturing tillage equipment since 1936, Ovlac claims to be Spain’s largest soil working equipment manufacturer.
The Ovlac plough range includes conventional and reversible mounted, semi-mounted and trailed models together, with a range of shallow ploughs.
It also offers a range of mounted and semi-mounted disc harrows and stubble cultivators. At the show, Farmec exhibited five-furrow reversible plough and a 3m mounted disc harrow.
Egmont Agri debut Unia range
Egmont Agri, the Cork-based Irish importer of the Samasz and Metal-Fach equipment ranges, debuted the Unia product range at the show.
Unia claims to be the largest Polish manufacturer of agricultural equipment, manufacturing up on 25,000 machines per year, out of which over 10,000 are exported to 60 countries. The company has four factories and employs close to 1,000 people.
With a portfolio of over 700 variations of machines, the company builds a full range of equipment, including ploughs, cultivators, seed drills, potato equipment, fertiliser spreaders, balers in addition to fertiliser and lime spreader just to name a few.
Making its Irish debut at Punchestown this week was an RCW 45, 8t lime/fertiliser spreader. Working width ranges from 10m-36m for granular fertiliser applications and 8m-16m for lime. Egmont also showcased a 3m seed drill and a 6m Unia tine weeder.
Chinese autosteer makes Irish debut
Based in Clonroche, Co Wexford, recently established machinery dealership J Leech Agri Ltd has taken on the Irish distributorship for the CHCNAV Precision Agriculture Division. The Chinese manufacturer develops cost-effective, high-precision GNSS-based auto-steering kits.
Making its Irish debut at the show, the company exhibited the CHCNAV kit, namely the NX510 auto-steer system. These retrofit systems can either be fitted to any auto-steer ready tractor and integrated through the tractors Can-Bus and steering valves, or can be fitted to any tractor using the motorised steering wheel option.
All CHCNAV systems the Wexford dealer sells come RTK unlocked with the ability to record tasks, fields, etc. The firm’s auto-steering systems start at €5,800, plus VAT. J Leech Agri also launched its own RTK subscription service, JL AGNET.
Claiming to have much of the tillage areas of the country covered, the firm said it’s rolling out more stations every week. It says the signal can steer most of the main RTK unlocked receivers, fitted to any make of tractors. It also claims to be the first in Ireland to offer a six-month (€400 plus VAT) or 12-month (€650 plus VAT) subscription option.
Kelly’s of Borris takes on Elho
Kelly’s of Borris has just taken on the distributorship for Elho in the Republic of Ireland. Manufacturing machinery since 1968, the Finnish manufacturer of agricultural machinery is exporting equipment to more than 40 different countries, from North America to Asia. Kelly’s debuted the Scorpio 550 stone picker and the V-Twin 750 swather rake at the show.
Designed and manufactured on the west coast of Finland, where large amounts of stones reside, Elho offer four models of stone pickers.
The Scorpio 550 stone picker is hydraulically driven.
It’s fitted with a hopper capacity of up to two cubic metres and a tipping height up to 2.7m. The hydraulic flow uses 85 litres/minute, which is achieved with 110-150 bar. The hydraulic drive is designed for use with a tractor’s normal dual-function hydraulic coupling and a nominal pump size of 110l/min.
Automatic depth adjustment enables the machine to follow the surface of the ground with a constant working pressure. The hydraulic system can temporarily increase pressure to the second pickup motor when needed, and the lifting force at the end of the tines is 700kg. It’s fitted with Hardox tines.
The diameter of the rotor is 1.8m and it rotates at 80r/min, while the tines rotate at 125r/min. It’s priced at €66,000 plus VAT.
Bednar makes Irish debut and appoints two dealers
Bednar made its Irish debut at the FTMTA show. It’s a young Czech company, that is going from strength to strength. Established in 1997, the company manufactures tillage equipment and is today exporting to 39 countries worldwide. Products include cultivators, seeding, inter-row cultivation, mulching, fertilisation and crop residue management.
Last week, Bednar announced a strategic partnership with its first two dealers in Ireland, Murphy’s Motors in Kilkenny and Glenmore and Farmworks Machinery in Dublin. The company says that other additional new dealer partners in Ireland will be announced over the next weeks.
Krone B 1050 CV butterfly mowers
Farmhand, the Irish importer and distributor of Krone, showcased the new EasyCut B 1050 CV butterfly mower combination. The setup is available with the CV steel tine or CR roller conditioner, both of which can be fitted with cross-conveyor grouper units.
The B 1050 CV displayed featured the proven V-shaped steel tine conditioner which claims to be the largest on the market with a diameter of 64cm. It can be adapted to the crop by adjusting the rotational speed (600/900rpm) and the distance from the deflector sheets to the tines. The speed and working position of the optional hydraulic cross-conveyor swather is all done from the cab. Groupers can also be switched on and off individually.
The outrigger arms of the EasyCut B 1050 CV can be adjusted mechanically from widths of 9.3m to 10.45m.
Various control options are available for operating the mowers, including hydraulic functions, the raising of either one or two sides or swivelling the cross-conveyor belts in and out. These functions can be preselected electronically with the new Krone PreSelect. If not opting for IsoBus, three terminals are available to choose from – DS 500, CCI 800 or CCI 1200 with touchscreen. The B 1050 CV is priced at €152,000 plus VAT.
Claas introduce new cloud-based platform to Irish market
Up front and centre to the Claas stand was its Digital Solutions arena, where the German manufacturer debuted its Claas Connect platform.
Claas Connect brings together machine management, service planning and licence management with yield mapping, application maps and documentation, on a single, cloud-based platform.
The manufacturer says that the ‘Next Step in Farming’ focuses on even greater connectivity and user-friendliness and a closer relationship between customer, dealer, manufacturer and partners, based on more effective communication. The platform is a management tool based on data.
Since October last year, a five-year machine connect license was fitted as standard on all Claas tractors, forage harvesters and combines.
It says this opens the gateway for machine telematics, remote service via the digital service manager and Cemis online transfer of files such as field maps and fertiliser application maps.
After the five years, users will have to pay a yearly licensing fee to use the platform. Claas says that telematics isn’t new, but this is the next step to evolving it.
The platform is divided into two main elements. Machine connect features all machine related data, while farm connect encompasses all field data, such as yield maps and prescription maps, etc.