New Zealand-based ag-manufacturer Duncan Ag has taken home the “Imported Machine of the Year” award at the 2014 Elmore Field Days for its Renovator AS5000 5.4m folding wing airseeder.
While Duncan Ag is based in Timaru, New Zealand, the company sells its range of products right across Australia and has an office in Laverton North, Victoria.
Duncan Ag Australia Sales Manager Anthony White was present at the awards ceremony to receive the accolade.
The Renovator AS5000 is currently the biggest in the range and has large capacity bins for both seed and fertilisers. It made its official Australian debut at the Elmore Field Days.
Its narrow row spacing and significant width allows farmers running larger operations to sow a variety of seeds including powder-form grass seeds and broadacre crops such as wheat, oats and barley.
However, White says the machine’s key feature is its ability to be folded into a comfortable 3.1m width for transport purposes.
“We’re trying to make things easy for people, whether it’s a farmer or contractor who just wants to get on with the job and not spend two days filling out paperwork to shift the machine from farm to farm,” he says.
While going wider and bigger is the path Duncan Ag has been following, White says there were certain elements the company wishes to preserve, such as the spacings and versatility of the machine.
“What we’ve tried to do is hang on to the idea that we can stay narrow with our row spacings,” he says.
“We don’t want to go up to 8 or 9 inches like the other guys but stay with our 5 to 6 inch spacings.
“We’re also hanging on to our ability to sow small seeds, such as straight clovers, lucerne, powder-type seeds ..and be able to put them out at 2kgs to the hectare and do that all day every day, every time you calibrate the machine.”
White adds a mid-sized tractor of about 160 horsepower is sufficient to put the Renovator AS5000 to work.
Find Duncan Ag seeders and drills for sale.
Video: Andrew Britten