UK: One-pass Grimme potato planters boost output

By going wider and reducing the number of passes, one Lincolnshire grower is seeing the benefits of an all-new potato planting system. Farmers Guardian gets a user’s view of a Grimme GL430T planter. Lincolnshire potato grower Will Gagg of RJ and AE Godfrey’s Eastoft Grange Farm near Scunthorpe operates three Grimme GL430T four-row planters. The original planter with tiller and front mounted liquid fertiliser applicator plants 220 hectares (550 acres) in North Lincolnshire, East Yorkshire and the Isle of Axholme. A second GL430T rig with GR360 rotary tiller plants 100 hectares (250 acres) in the Holbeach area. A third GL430T planter without a tiller is currently used to plant 120 hectares (300 acres) on rented land on the Wolds. With tillering, planting, fungicide and nematicide application plus liquid fertiliser placement all done in one pass now, and the move to a four row machine, it means planting can be done in a much more timely manner and in the right conditions, says Mr Gagg. More