Sub-soiling pioneer leaves his mark

He first made a living working as a contractor, breaking in virgin tussock in Southland, making land more productive, and working many hours on water schemes, pulling in pipes and cables for councils.

Running on a tight budget, Des did his own repairs and modifications and soon had local farmers bringing their machines to him for repair. So began James Engineering, at Maitland, and a history that made a lot of difference to a number of enterprises.

During his time pulling in pipes and cables, Des noticed that as the ground ‘healed’ the grass always came back particularly strongly around the trench. So he embarked on a journey that was to dominate his career: understanding what was going on below the soil surface.

In 1983 he built the first James’ aerator, following a request from Ian Sadlier at J.J.’s who had a request from a customer who wanted a more efficient aerator than he could then find in the marketplace. 

After experimenting with the profile and the angle of the steel legs of the aerator, Des struck a combination that ensured the whole profile across the width of the machine was lifted, creating cracks and fissures, thereby removing compaction – particularly around the area of a plough pan that typically sits at 200-300mm below the ground surface. That configuration remains to this day.

The mechanics of the action is fairly straightforward: the cracking allows crop roots to go deeper searching for moisture, which was particularly useful in a dry season; and it allows more oxygen into the soil profile. This encourages more microbial activity, which in itself ‘unlocks’ residual fertiliser in the soil.

Tests with the then Lincoln College and DSIR confirmed that soil aerating to a depth of 250-300mm was very beneficial and could result in increases in dry matter production of around 20%. Local trials in Southland showed a 21.7% increase over 15 months.

Over the years, James Engineering developed a number of additions to the original machine, such as disc and roller assemblies. The company also introduced mole ploughs and other soil working machines that improved soil profile. 

A key to this development was regular attendance at regional and national field days which gave Des the opportunity to talk to customers and understand their needs, resulting in ‘tweaks’ to machines to suit particular jobs.

Around 2001 Des formed a partnership with his then workshop foreman Mike Key. 

The latter eventually bought the business outright in 2004 and has carried on the traditions of the company’s founder – building rugged machines for the task and taking time to talk to customers to understand their needs. 

In fact, between 2004 and his recent death just short of age 79, Des continued to attend Fieldays with Mike and his team and impart his wisdom on proceedings. 

Many will remember Des touring the country in his one tonne ute. If the recent heavy rain is anything to go by, it looks like Des has moved upstairs and ‘loosened’ a few clouds.