The plough remains at the very heart of Kverneland Group’s tillage range, but from this strong centre, has grown a range of instruments that are not only following on from the traditional form of primary cultivation, but, to some extent, replacing it.
Leonard Hoverden is Kverneland Ireland’s tillage specialist and is a tillage farmer himself, giving him a solid insight into the modern Irish tillage scene.
It is a side of agriculture that is still progressing, despite the reduction in area over the last few years.
That progression is largely due to the introduction into the market of new tools, which suit a much greater number of tillage systems that are now being operated.
If there is one word that all of the forward looking tillage machinery companies are using, its ‘flexibility’.
Leonard is quite confident that this is the path that Kverneland needs to follow if it is to continue to serve its customers, and he is equally confident that the company is doing just that with it’s present portfolio of machinery.
This philosophy doesn’t just apply to it’s range of secondary cultivation equipment, but the plough itself is open to constant refinement.
The company has around 70-80% of the plough market in Ireland, second only to the home country of Norway when it comes to market penetration, but the implement needs to constantly evolve, and the introduction of the Ecomat range is a case in point.
Shallow cultivation is far more difficult than simply ‘going deep’, according to Leonard. Going deep is just a question of pushing the cultivator into the ground and adding more horsepower in front of it.
Kverneland go shallow
Such an approach is being questioned as never before, and the Ecomat ploughs are designed to achieve total soil inversion and the burial of weeds.
However, achieving that over the working width of the implement, be it a plough or cultivator, is where the challenge lies and local conditions can dictate to what extent these tools succeed.
Ploughs that can work at just 9cm need not be confined to farms where minimum soil disturbance is the main factor determining crop establishment operations.
It is good practice on any farm to adjust ploughing depths between the seasons, he advised.
A great benefit of shallow ploughing, and shallow cultivations in general, is the reduced power requirement. Apart from the obvious fuel savings, lighter tractors may be used and so, less damage to the soil through compaction.
This does go against the trend of bigger tractors which are required to pull the ever widening cultivation equipment – a trend which is justified by the need for greater timeliness.
Yet, windows of opportunity for getting onto the ground can be narrowed due to the weight of the tractor causing greater damage in marginal conditions, and so it becomes a vicious circle.
Shallow cultivation may well offer a step off the descending spiral.
Wet weather
To say that the past season has been difficult would be something of an understatement, yet what it has done, is remind us of the value of the plough, for in many cases, it is only thanks to the traditional method that any cultivations were done at all.
Once inverted, the ground will need working and drilling, although the increase in plough speed over the years has meant that much of the soil is worked during this primary cultivation.
It is now more a matter of levelling it off and breaking down any remaining clods.
This has ushered in the one pass drill, whether mounted on a power harrow or sitting on a trailed frame with discs or tines leading the coulters at the rear.
Kverneland has a range of both, yet it is the larger trailed U Drill range, with the U standing for universal, which is gaining ever more attention thanks to its versatility.
Leonard tells us that the drill was specifically designed for use behind the plough and for minimal tillage, but he also suggests that when conditions are right, it can be used for direct drilling, although this would not be its primary role.
Trailed drills of this type tend to be expensive, and the point at which they are likely to become viable is from 500ac and upwards – a cost which may be more quickly recouped if it can be used at the margins of the drilling envelope, this season being a case in point.
The company has a more decisive answer to wet conditions and that is the form of the TS tine drill.
Kverneland bill this as being suitable for extreme conditions, either wet or dry, and it is a big seller in the UK.
Given the high probability of wet weather in Ireland, more notice might be taken of them over here.
The organic question
The idea that 25% of farmland within the EU will be organic by 2030 is an expectation that Leonard feels may not be fulfilled.
Speaking for himself as a tillage farmer, going organic has great attractions, not least of which is the reduction in growing costs, and he believes that many of his fellow growers are of the same sentiment.
The objection to doing so is twofold. The biggest stumbling block is whether it can be profitable, always the first objective of any farming enterprise, while the second is the huge leap of faith that is required to take the plunge.
There are may unknowns for the farmer, after decades of damaging farming practices spurred on by the diktats of science, commerce and politics – will soils respond favourably to a dramatic change in management?
Leonard also raises the question of whether the world’s population of eight billion people can be fed from an agricultural system that does not rely on fertilisers and pesticides?
Of course, there is the prospect of having weeds reinvade crops after years of reducing the seed bank.
None of these issues will be resolved overnight, and there is no clear route forward – therefore, Kverneland believes it is pursuing the sensible course by covering all bases with a range of implements that can be adapted to a multitude of situations.