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OPINION: Good on Miraka for eschewing electric power for its future tankers, opting for the much more practical heavy-vehicle ‘green’ choice, hydrogen, putting NZ’s first H-powered tanker on the road.
It’s no accident that in the tractor and farm machinery industry, momentum is growing for a future switch from diesel to hydrogen fuel.
Kubota, Deutz and JCB, for example, are well down the road with hydrogen engines.
Not only does it require less re-tooling for manufacturers, and the fuel network, hydrogen is better suited to sustained heavy work.
And unlike battery power, it doesn’t require hours of downtime to recharge. In contrast to Miraka, Fonterra has an electric tanker on trial, which they only operate on flat land, for short trips, and takes three hours to recharge.
Ashburton-based Carrfields has announced that, from the New Year, it is officially authorised to sell Krone Forager Harvesters and Kubota Tractors across the Southland and Otago regions it represents.
British industrial and agricultural machinery manufacturer JCB has won a £152 million (NZ$348m) military contract with the US Marine Corps as part of the Tractor, Rubber Tired, Articulated-Steering Multi-Purpose (TRAM) vehicle programme.
Increasing its offering in New Zealand’s utility vehicle market, Kubota has unveiled its new RTV-X CAB and Long Bed models, purposebuilt to tackle tough farms, job sites and large-acreage properties.
Two of the South Island’s agricultural machinery dealers are undertaking strategic changes designed to deliver even greater specialist support to farmers.
There can't be many people who on seeing the distinctive bright yellow and red colour scheme, don’t think ‘JCB’. Indeed, JCB has largely become the generic name for all brands of excavators, not unlike the term Fridge or Hoover.
While the District Field Days brought with it a welcome dose of sunshine, it also attracted a significant cohort of sitting members from the Beehive – as one might expect in an election year.
Irish Minister of State of Agriculture, Noel Grealish was in New Zealand recently for an official visit.
While not all sibling rivalries come to blows, one headline event at the recent New Zealand Rural Games held in Palmerston North certainly did, when reigning World Champion Jack Jordan was denied the opportunity of defending his world title in Europe later this year, after being beaten by his big brother’s superior axle blows, at the Stihl Timbersports Nationals.
AgriZeroNZ has invested $5.1 million in Australian company Rumin8 to accelerate development of its methane-reducing products for cattle and bring them to New Zealand.
Farmers want more direct, accurate information about both fuel and fertiliser supply.
A bull on a freight plane sounds like the start of a joke, but for Ian Bryant, it is a fond memory of days gone by.
