South Island Field Days
The South Island Field Days has moved to a new farm in the small town of Kirwee, west of Christchurch, but it’s bigger and better than ever. Source: TVNZ Thinkwater Managing Director Sam Broomhall says the A & P Show in Christchurch is “sort of more candy floss and hot dogs whereas here’s real sort of agriculture-based”. The South […]
Tractor accidents claim three farmers in eight days
Three Victorian farmers have died in workplace accidents involving tractors in just eight days. Source: The Age A 53-year-old man died after a tractor ran over him at a Yarra Valley winery as he was harvesting grapes on the Wandin East property. A second farmer, a man, 47, died in hospital on Thursday after suffering serious injuries in an […]
Pesticides more harmful than tractors
Airborne substances such as pesticides and exhaust fumes accounted for 97 deaths in the agriculture sector in 2010, WorkSafe New Zealand has found. Source: Radio New Zealand Its review of agricultural sector data also revealed 670 people were hospitalised due to toxins released into the air. WorkSafe agriculture programme manager Al McCone said the figures were surprising. “It reveals to us […]
China offer Nigeria $4.5m for machinery
China has offered Nigeria a US$4.5 billion loan for agricultural machinery and infrastructure, a Nigerian state governor said. Source: Reuters Zamfara state governer Abdulaziz Yari said the loan had a 20-year repayment period at an interest rate of 1%. “China is giving us a credit line of US$4.5 billion for the procurement of strategic machinery for rural development and […]
New Holland at global forum in UAE
New Holland Agriculture, together with local distributor Saeed Mohammed Al Ghandi & Sons, took its place at the Global Forum for Innovations (GFIA) in Agriculture in March 2017 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Source: AFDJ eNews GFIA, as an exhibition and conference showcasing innovations in sustainable agriculture, aims to meet the needs of both large and smallholder […]
Valtra Red Dot winner
Valtra’s SmartTouch armrest that was unveiled in Paris in February has won the Red Dot 2017 Design Award, while the fourth generation Valtra N Series received an honourable mention in the same competition. Source: AFDJ eNews Last year the Valtra T4 Series won the Red Dot 2016 Design Award. “The Red Dot 2017 Design Awards […]
Tracking – the use of guidance systems from Fendt
Fendt consistently allows technical innovations from its higher-horsepower tractors to migrate across to its smaller vehicle ranges. This enables small to medium-sized farms to share in the economic benefits of products such as the guidance system. Source: AFDJ eNews As well as the economic and ecological benefits of savings in seed, fertiliser and crop sprays, many farmers place […]
American farmers hacking with Ukrainian firmware
To avoid the draconian locks that John Deere puts on the tractors they buy, farmers throughout America’s heartland have started hacking their equipment with firmware that’s cracked in Eastern Europe and traded on invite-only, paid online forums. Source: Motherboard Tractor hacking is growing increasingly popular because John Deere and other manufacturers have made it impossible to perform “unauthorized” repair […]
Euro market a vision of contrasts
The decline in sales of arable farm equipment in Europe slowed down in 2016 and is expected to come to a halt this year. Source: AFDJ eNews According to provisional calculations, sales in 2016 totalled EUR 3.33bn, a decrease of -2% compared with 2015. For 2017, the industry believes the market will stabilize once again […]
NAB that niche for agtech finance
Australia’s largest bank lender to the farm sector has seized on the emerging opportunities and synergies available to the financial services sector as new technologies and innovations change the face of agriculture. Source: The Australian National Australia Bank, which lends about one third of all agricultural debt financing in Australia and controls a loan book of $20 billion, […]