The Royal Show - Media & PR - Press Releases

July 9th 2009

Potato Harvester is Overall Winner in New Equipment Awards

Royal Agricultural Society of England (RASE) has announced the winners of its prestigious New Equipment Awards. The awards, which are run in association with Farmer’s Guardian and sponsored by the Institution of Agricultural Engineers, were presented at a ceremony at the Royal Show at Stoneleigh. In order to qualify the equipment must be offered for sale in the past 12 months and be on display at this year’s Royal Show.
 
The awards are open to agricultural, horticultural, and forestry equipment companies. The winners must demonstrate innovative ideas which will bring real benefits to farmers. There are five categories: harvesting, estate management, tractor, application and storage, and handling equipment. In addition, there is an overall winner, and this honour went to the Varitron 220 Potato Harvester from Grimme UK Ltd, which also won the harvesting category. Key features of the harvester include five cameras and two monitors to give complete crop flow coverage, immediate control via a touch-screen terminal, and a modular design.  
 
The runner-up in the harvesting category was the New Holland Willow header which has been  designed to double the harvesting acreage of Short Rotation Coppice Willow achieved by competitor products. Other category winners and runners up were as follows:

Estate Maintenance

Winner: Alstor 8x8 mini forwarder, a low ground pressure 8 wheel drive machine, designed to be used by Forestry, Access and Utilities companies.

Runner up: Quick Fencer four row barb wire attachment, which unrolls and semi-tensions wire.

Tractor

Winner: John Deere 7530e, a Premium Tractor built to fully exploit the enhanced power and performance of the PowerTech Plus engine.

Runner up: Case Puma CVX, which incorporates double clutch technology similar to that used in Formula One racing cars.

Application and Storage

Winner: Sean Jackman Big Green Spreading Machine, which provides an alternative solution to conventional muck spreaders, with reduced ground compaction, as well as high performance and lower costs.

Runner up: The Glenside Group’s OxyGenerator Super 6, designed to increase grassland productivity by alleviating the effects of anaerobic root zones in compact swards. This machine combines aeration and slurry spreading in one operation.

Handling Equipment

Winner: BDC systems, Grain Butler Automatic Path Control System, a navigation system for use with a Double Grain Butler self-propelled augur stirring unit in a grain store.

Runner up:   JCB 526-56 Agri Plus Loadall, designed to work in confined spaces with a capacity of 2.0 to 2.7 tonnes, and lift heights of 4 to 5.6 metres.

For further information on The Royal Show  visit www.royalshow.org.uk .

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For further media information contact:
Royal Show Press Office: 02476 858 217  or email julieb@rase.org.uk