Profi

It is that time again to sit in front of the keyboard and provide some machinery business wisdom, without following the easy path of talking about the wonderful and insightful articles within this May issue, where hopefully we've managed to satisfy, for now, your appetite for knowledge. Time is something that’s been on my mind a lot in recent weeks. Taking the time to speak to people, the ones that you say to yourself, I'll call them tomorrow, but tomorrow there is something else that becomes a priority. It reminds me of a Nike advert from years ago: 'Yesterday you said tomorrow, so just do it.' And it’s not just about finding the time to speak to folk, but also the time to not rush into a job — allocating…

CVTs for the Valtra Q and S series tractors are now being produced in-house at the expanded transmission plant at the Suolahti facility. Up until now, the Finnish factory manufactured transmissions for N and T series tractors, and supplied powershifts for the South American market and transmission components for other Agco plants. The larger production space provides plenty of room to double the transmission capacity at the plant to build and test new CVTs for the Q (230-305hp) and S (280-420hp) series. The larger transmission plant is part of a US$38m investment at Suolahti by parent company Agco.…

Designed and manufactured at the newly opened facility in eastern Washington State, USA, the latest version of the Carbon Robotics LaserWeeder is claimed to reduce weed control costs in a wide range of row crops by up to 80%. Combining the latest AI, computer vision, robotics and laser technology, main updates include new 240w lasers to reduce shoot times, and upgraded graphic processing for faster image processing and enhanced optics for the high-resolution cameras. The new LaserWeeder G2 models are the 200 (2.0m/1.9t), 400 (4.0m/2.7t), 600 (6.1m/3.2t), 1200 (12.2m/5.4t) and 1800 (18.3m/6.3t). Capable of covering from 2.0 to 4.0ha/hr, minimum power requirement of the widest model is 150hp. The new 6.1m version is 25% lighter than the original model.…

A redesigned operator platform is one of the updates on the latest range of trailed Espro drills from Kuhn. The updates focus on the 3.0-6.0m models with the 3002 (3.0m), 4002 (4.0m) fixed, and 4002R and 6002R (6.0m) folding units, introduced as upgrades to the existing 3000, 4000 and 6000 drills. Hopper access and operator safety is improved with a new mid-height platform. Spanning the full length of the hopper, the platform automatically folds when the drill returns to transport mode. A half open mode improves loader access to the hopper for filling, and the new hopper cover has an automatic winding and locking system. The 6002R is 700kg lighter than the outgoing 6000 model it replaces. Kuhn says that this will help to reduce soil compaction and fuel consumption,…

The first two production versions of the Nexat tool carrier fitted with a pair of 10,000l capacity Amazone fertiliser spreaders are now operational in Brazil and Romania. Main changes to the prototype tested in Romania and Germany last year, include tweaks to the frame design, and the two tanks, which were of different sizes on the prototype, are now identical. The Amazone TS spreading unit at the rear of the ZG-TS 20001 (20,000l) spreader enables working widths from 28 to 42m…

BUHLER GOES PRIVATE A proposed deal is in the making that will see Buhler Industries, the publicly-traded Versatile and Farm King equipment manufacturer, fully absorbed by Asko, its Turkish majority shareholder. There will be no change to the brands and dealer networks, but the Buhler name is to be dropped. The new company will be called Amalco, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Asko Holdings, which purchased 96.7% of the shares of Buhler Industries in December 2023 (Asko Holdings owns Basak Traktor). The main reason for the change is that substantial investments are needed over the next few years to modernize the Versatile tractor plant in Winnipeg and the Farm King factory in Morden. KUBOTA EXPANDS DEALERSHIP AREAS Kubota (UK) has implemented a series of changes to three of its dealer sales…