AGROCENTREZAKHAROVO AND HORSCH SHOWCASE STATE-OF-THE-ART MACHINES

At Kurgansemena holding, Kurgan oblast, AgroCentreZakharovo and Horsch’s representatives ran a training seminar for local farmers on 17 March. Such issues of the upcoming season as efficient plant protection and precision sowing practices came under the spotlight at the meeting.

The important event brought together over 30 agricultural producers of Kurgan and Chelyabinsk oblasts. Every year, the area under crops in Kurgan oblast keeps growing – in 2023, farmers will sow about 1,400 ha with cereals and pulses. Between 2023 and 2025, another 327,000 ha will be put up for auction. Thus, there is an increasing need for upgrading machinery fleets, using cutting-edge technologies and digital devices in production. This is what AgroCentreZakharovo’s specialists dedicated their seminar to.

For plant protection, the dealership has Horsch trailed sprayers to offer. These high-performance and precise machines cope with a heavy workload in the shortest possible time while maintaining good quality.

Special attention was paid to the Horsch Leeb 12TD sprayer. The powerful machine is fitted with a 12,000-litre tank, which creates an opportunity for boosted productivity when operating in large fields without additional refilling. The pump flow rate is up to 1,000 l/min, which means that filling time will not exceed 12 minutes. The trailed sprayer features a robust heavy-duty steel frame and tandem axle with hydraulic shock absorption and level compensation.

Kurgan farmers had a chance to see firsthand one of the German manufacturer’s legendary models – the Horsch Maestro 16SV precision air seed drill.

‘The machine is ideal for planting maize, soya beans, sunflower and sugar beets. Its optimal seeding speed varies between 8 and 12 km/h, which allows it to sow as many as 250 ha per day. With the AirSpeed metering device, the speed can be increased to 15 km/h’, says Dmitriy Gerasimenko, Manager of Kurgan branch, AgroCentreZakharovo. ‘The seed drill is easy to operate and can be coupled with tractors having a capacity of 180 hp and more. It has two hoppers – a 2,000-litre one for seeds and a 7,000-litre one for fertilisers. The large working width makes for increased volumes of work, and the transport width of three metres greatly facilitates transportation.’

‘Kurgansemena research and production agricultural holding employs only the latest technologies, constantly upgrading its machinery fleet. We purchased a Horsch Maestro 16SV seed drill from AgroCentreZakharovo in late 2021 and already tested it when sowing sunflower. The results are impressive – the unit does not break the stubble, seeds are embedded at the right depth and with the selected spacing, which ensures uniform seedlings and high yields. We plan to continue cooperating with AgroCentreZakharovo and opting for Horsch machines’, says Sergey Slobodchikov, Deputy Director for Production at Kurgansemena.

The Horsch Maestro 16SV is equipped with the innovative AutoForce system controlling the pressure of the hydraulic cylinders on the parallelogram and maintaining constant load on the support wheels. This design allows the weight of each row unit to be transferred onto the machine frame. The coulter pressure is between 150 kg and 350 kg.

‘We have been working with AgroCentreZakharovo for over five years. During this time, four Horsch seed wagon systems and a trailed sprayer have been added to our fleet. These reliable tools perform massive tasks to a good quality. Today, we do not consider any other machinery brand for our farm. Besides, plans are afoot to grow sunflower, for which we cannot find a better model than the Horsch Maestro. That is why this seminar is particularly important to us. AgroCentreZakharovo’s specialists described all the features of the seed drill and its decided edges and answered our questions’, points out Aleksey Vorotyntsev, Manager of Rus enterprise.