Only when you thought granular fertilizer spreaders couldn’t get more precise, manufacturers keep amazing farmers and contractors with features for more precise application. What’s new for this year? For Europeans, the biannual Agritechnica exhibition in Hanover, Germany is a good indicator for innovations and trends in farm machinery.
The use of granular non-organic fertilizer has been laying under a magnifying glass because of soaring prices of especially nitrogen fertilizers due to sky-rocketing gas prices. Those prices have come down again, but, again for Europeans, there’s another impact around the corner: 20 percent reduction in fertilizer use and halving nutrient losses by 2030. That’s what the Farm to Fork Strategy, part of the European Green Deal, aims to achieve.
Broadacre farmers might laugh at this, but in countries with smaller fields separated by non-farmland, waterways and even walkways, exact border spreading while maintaining the correct overlap on headlands and in tramlines, is an urgent topic. In some countries and regions you can get seriously fined for fertilizer granules flying across a field border. Regulation and environmental pressure often boosts innovation and that also is the case with border spreading. Let’s take a look at some recent novelties.
On field sprayers, curve compensation has been around for quite some time already and now Amazone, the German machinery manufacturer, introduces curve compensation on centrifugal fertilizer spreaders. Amazone CurveControl adjusts the lateral distribution on fertilizer spreaders while turning, correcting the spreading pattern. This prevents unwanted over-fertilization on the inside of the turn and granules spilling beyond the field boundary. CurveControl is available as an option on the mounted ZA-TS and on the trailed ZG-TS spreaders.
Danish fertilizer spreader specialist Bøgballe suggests its new dynamic headland spreading system for working widths ranging from 27 to 42 metres. With the new technology, based on Bøgballe’s section control dynamic, you can freely switch between normal and headland spreading during operation. And, at the same time, choose whether the field border should be on the right or on the left side. The spread pattern also adapts to field conditions in wedges and at changing tramline distances.
Kuhn has been working together with German fertilizer spreader specialist Rauch for a long time. The companies are now launching the new GSE Pro border spreading plate for the Axis 30.2 and 50.2 twin disc spreaders. The spreading pattern generated with the new GSE generation is sharply defined and is to prevent overspreading at the field boundary. An extra-long guide plate ensures a better spreading accuracy. The numerous small knobs on the plates enable an even distribution by taking away the energy from the flying fertilizer granules.
Kverneland showcased a hydraulically driven version of their Exacta TL Geospread weigh-cell spreader called iDC (intelligent Disc Control). With the hydraulic drive, you can choose to operate both spreading discs at different speeds. This way, the outer disc along the field border or waterway can be reduced to an optimal speed for border spreading while the speed of the inner disc is optimized for full field spreading. iDC is also available on the equivalent Vicon and Kubota branded centrifugal spreaders.
As far as Kubota is concerned, the company also introduced a TIM powered solution to maintain spreaders at the correct height and inclination above the crop while its hopper contents decrease. TIM, short for Tractor Implement Management, is an Isobus solution for letting implements and machines control certain tractor functions automatically. In case of mounted fertilizer spreaders, the (weigh-cell) spreader knows what the (correct) height and inclination of the spreader are by means of two height sensors and an inclination sensor. Based on this, the spreader will ask the tractor to adjust (lower) the linkage and/or lengthen the hydraulic top link while spreading. The technology can thus help prevent under- and overdosing by keeping the spreader at the correct height and level continuously and automatically.
Valtra introduced a similar novelty to keep fertilizer spreaders level regardless of the contents of the hopper called Smart Top Link. Two height sensors are fitted to the front and rear of the fertiliser spreader and the system then automatically compares the data from the two sensors and adjusts the top link if needed. Valtra initially designed the system for use with fertiliser spreaders but the sensors can also be installed on other implements.
Horsch is taking accuracy and capacity for spreading or rather for applying granular fertilizer to a whole different level or even magnitude. Their new Horsch Leeb Xeric 14FS pneumatic fertilizer spreader offers working widths up to 48 metres and a hopper capacity of 14,000 litres (14 m3). The Xeric 14FS has 12 sections fed by separate augers that are independently adjustable in