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Inside New Farm Machinery’s November 2015 Issue

New Farm Machinery magazine November issue goes on sale October 12. It features a detailed look at an increasingly popular agricultural asset, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in the form of the DJI Phantom 3 drone.

NFM tester Tom Dickson thinks the quadcopter is certain to be popular among time poor, money conscience, tech savvy farmers now and into the future.

“From my short experience with the Phantom 3, I think it will make a terrific starting point for farmers wanting to dip their toe into the technology pool,” he says.

“As you get familiar with this model, which focuses mainly on video and photos you can step up into the more advanced versions that use infrared technology for measuring crop health and nutrition as well as mapping.”

Check out the review in this issue where Tom flies the drone around a cattle property to monitor livestock, check water levels and more. Watch the video.

We also looked at and tested several machines in this issue, including:

Matt Wood returns to his heartland — trucks — bringing New Farm Machinery a taste of the Mack Heartland Tour that has been rolling from dealer to dealer nationally to showcase the heavy duty Super-Liner, Trident and Granite models.

He takes them all for a spin on the way to deliver some much-needed cheer to the little Queensland town of Ravenshoe which is still grieving after an out-of-control ute recently slammed into a popular local café.

Back in July, managing editor Anna Game-Lopata visited one of the largest wine making facilities in Chablis, France that is leading the way in utilising advanced grape harvesting technology.

The operation, Domaine Vocoret et Fils is run by fifth generation vineyard owner Patrice Vocoret. Its two self-propelled New Holland VN2080 grape harvesters are based on the early models pioneered by the respected brand Braud.

They incorporate its revolutionary shaking dynamic control (SDC) system, which enables picking at twice the speed; a significant leap forward. The SDC system is efficient and speedy while avoiding wine stock and plant losses.

“It’s always a balance for the driver, to utilise just enough pinch and shaking speed to pick all the fruit without damage,” Vocoret says.

Vocoret’s 2008 model New Holland VN2080 also features an extendable frame and an adapted version of the ancient Egyptian noria system to collect grapes making the brand unique.

Find out the other tech secrets of this highly successful wine production in this issue.

Also, Col Jackson meets a remarkable sugar cane farmer — Gary Parker, who set about designing a common sense approach to eradicating Prickly Acacia.

An insidious pest, prickly acacia is recognised as a ‘weed of national significance’ — one of the worst in Australia because of its invasiveness, potential for spread and economic and environmental impacts.

Parker devised a simple way of cutting the stem at ground level and poisoning the stump in one pass. Don’t miss the full story in the magazine.

The buyers’ guide for this issue features tractors in the over 200 hp category. Look up big brands including John Deere, Case IH, Claas and more.

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