Stihl Launches BT140, Its First Battery-Powered Auger
With battery tools becoming more widespread and more importantly, productive and reliable, it was only time before we saw augers or post-hole borers.
With the price of guidance systems dropping like a stone over the last decade and substantial falls in the last 12 months, several nonmainstream brands have appeared in the marketplace.
FieldBee, headquartered in the Netherlands and founded in 2014, is an agricultural machine automation company with 100 employees and available in over 60 countries. The company has developed affordable, accurate and reliable tractor autosteer systems to help farmers farm profitably and sustainably, offering accessible intelligence and machine automation for quality fieldwork on all farm types and conditions.
FieldBee’s Power- Guide and PowerSteer GPS Guidance and steering systems are distributed in New Zealand by Unearth Ag Ltd. Power- Guide is a simple to use GPS Guidance System Designed to help you reduce overlaps and maximise efficiency when spraying and spreading.
PowerSteer is a retrofit tractor autosteering system designed to increase precision and reduce operator fatigue. Offering RTK accuracy as standard and compatible with all front-wheel steered tractors, key components include the PowerWheel to replace the standard steering wheelan all-in-one electronic controller, and a user-friendly Android app.
A full RTK Electric Steering systems is available for under $10,000+gst. Offered with a 2-year warranty, Field- Bee products are supported locally by Unearth Ag Ltd, while FieldBee also supports farmers seven days a week with a dedicated support team.
The system supports a variety of driving patterns, including straight lines, curves, headlands, and saved patterns, while also mapping fields and generating fieldwork reports in PDF and Excel formats.
It can be installed without the need for complex calibration or equipment upgrades and can support multiple vehicle profiles for easy switching between tractors.
The system is designed for simplicity, durability, and affordability, offering farmers a fast return on investment.
Visit www.unearthag.com or Fieldays site S18.
Farmgate lamb prices are down by 8%, beef cattle by 4.5% and farm expenditure up by 4.2%.
Kiwifruit growers are watchful but remain optimistic as concerns around the potential effects of the El Niño weather pattern this season.
Almond hulls sourced from Australian orchards may have the potential to help New Zealand cows reduce emissions, boost milk yield and lower input costs.
Striking a balance between meeting the needs of industry to speed up approval time for products but on the other hand ensuring that risks are properly assessed.
Surprised, humbled and quite thrilled. That’s the reaction of James Allen, one of the founding partners and now chief executive of AgFirst, on being made a life member of the Institute of Rural Professionals.

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