Held in a field crammed with diesel-drinking combines and tractors as tall as trees, the LAMMA machinery show also plays host to some of the latest technology that can help guide farmers to a greener future.
Sitting alongside these giant icons of agriculture is The Caretaker, Tong Peal Engineering’s classic potato grader and the most popular model on the market. This year, the new version has won a prize at the show for an existing product that has had the best improvements.
It took the merit award thanks to its environment-friendly EasyClean cleaning separator, which is the only model on the market to feature an electric motor on every shaft. This minimises the amount of energy it uses and also offers effective, yet gentle, cleaning of crop.
Charlie Rich, export manager at Tong Peal Engineering, said: “The EasyClean System is a new, advanced and approved cleaner separator, which is the most innovative cleaning system we have ever incorporated into our machines, giving improved performance and even better crop cleaning.
“It has been designed with the latest technology in mind to ensure minimal energy consumption while offering extremely effective yet gentle cleaning of crop.”
Just a few metres away, like its opposite number in a boxing ring, RJ Herbert Engineering’s blue machinery and balloons contrast the fire engine red of the Tong Peal range. Herbert is celebrating 40 years in the business by launching five new products in 2012.
Environmental factors are high on the agenda for the manufacturer and its new generation of washing technology includes pre-soaking, as well as energy-efficient washing and increased recycling.
However, sales engineer Simon Skipper says the area in which the company is doing the most to combat climate change is in providing products to support anaerobic digestion (AD) facilities that turn food waste to energy. “Packers are putting in anaerobic digestion systems and we’re supplying the hoppers and storage systems that go with that,” he said.
“Soon, any produce business will have its own AD facility. It would be foolish not to do the maths on it. You’ll soon see it on small farms and maybe some farms will club together and share one. There’s a lot more buzz about AD than wind turbines at the moment because you’re winning twice on AD as you save costs on disposal and you get good feed-in tariffs on the energy you generate. Some farms are finding that, rather than selling the electricity, it can be better to create gas and sell that to energy companies.”
“So, we build all the machinery that goes with that such as hardware, storage materials, shredders; outside that we’re limited in what we can do.”
Another manufacturer minimising waste is Queen’s Award-winning firm Haith Tickhill. The Doncaster company’s new root vegetable brush polisher produces an impressively finished vegetable with increased shelf life. Its unique brush system also removes imperfections from the outer surface so waste and expense is reduced.
With so much green technology on display, LAMMA is fast-becoming a top event for the fresh industry. -
No comments yet