5
F
News
F
Crop covers to guard against hail, rain, frost or pests are
not new, but amanufacturer south-east of the Loire Valley in
central
f
rance, Arbo-
i
DMAT, alsogrows 80ha of apples and
cherries. The company felt that they could improve upon
the covers generally available on themarket and since 2000
have designed, tested andproduced a range of covers
based on combined hail and rain protection. Thomas Piou
from the company said: “
o
ur covers can be used toprotect
all kinds of fruit and vegetables directly exposed to a variety
of climate-related hazards - whether hail, rain, wind, sun or
insects. Themost vulnerable are open-field cherries,
strawberries, redcurrants andblackcurrants.
o
f course, our
covers aren’t as
expensive as
greenhouses, and the
designs and structures
have all been tested in
our own orchards
before selling them to
our customers”.
The
i
DMAT system
consists of a fixed
structure of posts, wire
rope and anchors, with
modular elements of
netting and rain covers
that allow the system to adapt to all protection
requirements. Aswell as producing complete designs and
plans for the growing area
i
DMAT can provide help in
training growers’ workers to erect andmaintain the systems
that can be up to sixmetres high.
T
he
frui
TG
rower
•
JAN
u
A
r
Y 2017
Crop covers developedby
f
rench grower
AntonioCarraro tractor wins “Tractor of the Year 2017”
AntonioCarraro tractorswon “Tractor of theYear” in the
“Best inSpecialised” category at
ei
MA
i
nternational in
Bologna,
i
taly inNovember.
Thewinning tractor was Tony 9800T
r
that is fittedwith an
innovative hydrostatic transmission andS
i
M (shift inmotion)
technologywith four electronically controlled speed ranges
that can be engagedwhilst inmotion. The tractor is also
fittedwith an advanced electronicmonitoring and
management system, with advanced solutions for the
operator in all conditions and for
every requirement. Tony 9800
T
r
is availablewith either
steeringor an articulated
chassis, andwith either a roll-bar
or with the new cat.4
pressurized air cab, controlled
using software developed entirely in-house. At the top of the
hydrostatic transmission range, Tony T
r
offers reversible
steering and a traction capacity 30%greater than that of the
standardmodel.
This is a state-of-the-art hydrostatic tractor withwhich
AntonioCarraro aims to conquer a new era of automated
precision farming. AntonioCarraro tractors are distributed in
the
u
Kby Kirkland
u
K Ltd.
