Claydon, the UK-based manufacturer of the Opti-Till® Crop Establishment System, will use Agritechnica 2019 to launch its ‘Love Your Soil’ campaign, together with the company’s new 6m Hybrid T6c trailed direct strip seeding drill and 8m TerraBlade inter-row hoe.
The campaign is designed to highlight the need for farmers to better care for their soils, based on the company’s system, with the promise of delivering consistently good, high-yielding and profitable crops at low cost.
“The Claydon family’s 400-hectare arable farm in the East of England is one of very few in the UK to achieve a five-star rating for the condition and health of its soils,” said Simon Revell, Export Manager. “As a company, we know about soils and how to get the best from them in the most eco-friendly, sustainable way, and will be highlighting that to event visitors.
“Soils are any farmer’s greatest asset and yet many are unwittingly destroying their structure and productivity through the incorrect use of conventional full cultivations and min-till techniques. These can over-work the soil, depleting soil biota, greatly reducing worm populations and activity, together with its ability to drain water away in wet weather and retain moisture in dry weather.
“Starving the crop’s roots of essential air and nutrients also reduces yield potential and increases the cost-per-tonne of production, whilst increasing the risks of flooding and soil erosion. Similarly, the use of min-till systems and disc-type direct drills can result in soils which drain poorly and flood easily, creating crops with poor rooting structures and low yield potential.
“This situation must change, which is why we will be highlighting how our Opti-Till® System can help farmers to grow better crops, more efficiently, using just 10% of the fuel of a plough-based system, whilst greatly improving soil health.”
Hybrid T6c trailed direct strip seeding drill
The new 6m Hybrid T6c compact trailed drill (pictured above), also to be launched at Agritechnica 2019, is the latest addition to the Claydon range.
“Over 20% lighter and more compact than our Hybrid T6 model, the T6c combines the high output of a 6m seeding platform with the nimble handling characteristics and manoeuvrability of the 4m T4 trailed design on which it is based,” said the company. “Capable of drilling typically 45ha per day behind a 300hp (223kW) tractor, it is designed to appeal to farmers who prioritise lower cost and greater manoeuvrability over ultimate hopper capacity and output.”
8m TerraBlade inter-row hoe
The new 8m Claydon TerraBlade inter-row hoe is the largest model in the company’s range. Equipped with 26 blades, it joins four other TerraBlade models, the 3m M3, 4m M4, 4.8m M4.8 and 6m M6, which have 10, 14, 16 and 20 blades respectively.
“The TerraBlade is a low-cost, mechanical method of controlling weeds in combinable, band-sown crops,” said the company. “It provides an additional weapon in the agricultural industry’s weed control armoury at a time when the efficacy of some herbicides is decreasing.”
