Agri-Spread International win big at the Ireland and UK launch of their new innovation, a GPS Section Control Spreader.
The Mayo-based company won three awards at this year’s show. The “Best Established Company” and “Best Innovation” awards were presented on the Monday night from the hosts Enterprise Ireland and the National Farmers Journal, in association with the National Ploughing Championships.On the Tuesday afternoon, Agri-Spread won the treble when they were awarded the Prestigious “Machine of the Year 2018 Award”.
Agri-Spread International, launched a new automatic GPS ISOBUS section control spreading system for its range of spreaders at this year’s Innovation Arena at the National Ploughing Championships. This new product is been released in Ireland the UK only this year.
This new purpose-built spreader developed by Agri-Spread is called Section Control, which allows for even distribution and precise application rates of fertiliser, lime and bulk products. The Ballyhaunis-headquartered company which was founded in 2006, say its Section Control system ensures the uniform application of exact target amounts of product, which will result in reduced input costs, increased yields, as well as minimising crop damage and any environmental impact.
The GPS ISOBUS system automates three main functions of the spreader including:
1. An in-house patented twin conveyor feed system which independently regulates the application rate of product onto the spinner system. This allows the system to automatically control application rates of product left and right.
2. Independent spinner disk speed control automatically controlled by the developed section control software adjusts the spread width and spread pattern as each of the 14 sections are turned on or off via the GPS field guidance and coverage map.
3. Both the conveyor and spinner speed control are facilitated by the GPS section control software. This software is an ISOBUS based system to work in markets and on ISOBUS ready equipment all over the world.
According to Agri-Spread, the potential fertiliser savings vary from 5% to 20% depending on the field size, shape and obstacles in the field. The system will eliminate spreading outside of field boundaries, saving both fertiliser and overall input costs per acre. Variable rate application and auto shut off spreading are also possible with the section control spreader
The uniform spread pattern across a crop therefore avoiding under and over application will help increase average yields, while a record of the fertiliser/product application rate is logged, stored for full traceability and farm regulatory compliance. In the future the new section control system will be available on a range of Agri-Spread models, from its 6 tonne to 25 tonne single or tandem axle spreaders.
