Technology

Do you have a big lawn to mow? Here are a few things to keep in mind before you buy a ride-on mower!

Buyers of orchard and vineyard tractors have a disappointingly limited range from which to choose. Manufacturers, it seems, have not found this an easy segment to supply. But Valtra now offers a solution that appears to be economically sustainable, writes Stehan Cloete.

Water-use efficiency is becoming more and more important due to escalating usage costs. Agrico offers irrigation farmers a clever solution.

Agricultural machinery company STEYR, in co-operation with Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research, is developing an ‘intelligent’ tractor wheel equipped with an ultrasonic sensor that ensures optimised tyre pressure at all times and hence reduces compaction.

The Case IH Axial-Flow 4088 proved its suitability to tough African farming conditions, and specifically to the needs of emerging field crop farmers, during extensive field tests conducted recently on a variety of crops in Kenya. The machine’s rugged simplicity also won it praise.

Some jobs on the farm are too small to be done using regular farm machinery, but too large to be done by hand. John Deere’s range of turf and utility vehicles are just the right size to perform these smaller tasks.

Across the world, child labour is practised more in agriculture than in any other sector. This is despite the numerous hazards involved in farm work, including unprotected exposure to chemicals, working with potentially dangerous livestock, and carrying heavy loads over long distances. Moreover, a lack of access to quality education means these children not only suffer in terms of development, but are unlikely to escape the poverty trap. Janine Ryan investigates.

In a major step towards achieving complete autonomous driving for agricultural machinery, Valtra has joined forces with a telecommunications company to develop technology that enables tractors to be controlled remotely on the 5G network.

The dual nature of South Africa’s agricultural landscape precludes a one-size-fits-all approach to technology solutions. Small-scale farmers have limited budgets and challenges that cannot be solved without taking their distinctive circumstances into account.

Hennie Hattingh is responsible for original equipment sales at the Johannesburg branch of a major Southern African tyre and tube distributor. Stehan Cloete spoke to him about the effect of tyre pressure and tractor ballasting on fuel efficiency and productivity.

The South African irrigation and manufacturing company Agrico recently introduced a new GPS controller that offers users of its web-based irrigation control system a new solution for running pivots in a more energy-efficient way, thanks to better pressure control.

The Fendt IDEALDrive joystick steering system for combine harvesters eliminates the steering wheel in the brand’s IDEAL Combine series. The joystick steering solution promises to deliver greater visibility for less operator fatigue.

Only farmers know what it really takes to yield the best results, and only the right footwear can equip them to do that.

While it may be appealing to spend less on generic or counterfeit replacement parts, there is no substitute for the real thing, as the team at Husqvarna explains. You may spend less over the short term, but in the long term you will actually spend more.

The company FieldMicro has released a digital connectivity device that can be used to control a wide range of connected infrastructure, such as farm gates, irrigation equipment and machinery.

With today’s rapidly evolving digital technology, farmers have many options, but at a high cost. Discerning between the hype and the useful is therefore crucial to buying the right tools to increase profit. Digital and technology experts Rudie Raath and Stehan Cloete spoke to Lindi Botha.

Case IH introduced its brand-new, multipurpose JXE-Series tractors, suited for work in orchards and fields, at the Izmir AgroExpo 2020 in Turkey in February.

The combine is the single most capital-intensive piece of equipment on a grain farm. Utilising as much of its capacity as possible is important to overall farm efficiency, writes Stehan Cloete.

AGCO, a world leader in the manufacturing and distribution of agricultural machinery, is adopting a two-tier distribution model that will make it easier for dealers and farmers to connect.

The COVID-19 pandemic had brought new appreciation for the pivotal role that South Africa’s agriculture sector plays in the provision of healthy, sufficient and affordable food, according to Derek Mathews, chairperson of Grain SA.