Blog Elements - Turf Matters

Half Sized Blog Element (Single Author Style)

Half Sized Blog Element (Multi Author Style)

Neil Pullen retires from Agrovista Amenity

October 4, 2021/in News, Press Release/by Lucy Nicholls

Neil Pullen retires from Agrovista Amenity: Neil Pullen, Product Development Manager at Agrovista Amenity has announced his retirement. Neil has been instrumental in the development of a number of leading turfcare brands and his legacy is set to live on through the next generation of amenity experts. Neil started his career as a fruit farmer, […]

New range of robot mowers

October 1, 2021/in News, Press Release/by Nicki Jones

New range of robot mowers: With an annual growth that has reached tenfold, robotic mowers are becoming more popular with homeowners. However, their basic design has not changed significantly since they were invented in 1995. Kress believes robotic mowers should do more than relieve users of the burden of pushing a mower each week. The […]

Neil Pullen retires from Agrovista Amenity

October 4, 2021/in News, Press Release/by Lucy Nicholls

New range of robot mowers

October 1, 2021/in News, Press Release/by Nicki Jones

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

Neil Pullen retires from Agrovista Amenity

October 4, 2021/in News, Press Release/by Lucy Nicholls

Neil Pullen retires from Agrovista Amenity: Neil Pullen, Product Development Manager at Agrovista Amenity has announced his retirement. Neil has been instrumental in the development of a number of leading turfcare brands and his legacy is set to live on through the next generation of amenity experts.

Neil started his career as a fruit farmer, a position he held for just over 11 years before he joined Kings Horticulture. As the name suggests, the company largely focussed on horticulture, but it had a very small amenity division and Neil saw huge opportunity.

Neil Pullen retires from Agrovista Amenity

From having just one trading customer, Neil developed Kings Horticulture into a strong amenity business with a large customer base and this continued when the company became United Agri Products (UAP).

Sherriff Amenity was the next destination on Neil’s career path and a merge with a company called Profarma resulted in the creation of Agrovista.

“It was an exciting time,” said Neil. “The merger brought a lot of backing to the table and allowed the amenity side of the business to grow massively. Over time we bought Alpha Amenity, Amenity One, Terra Firma, and then more recently Maxwell Amenity.

“This acquisition enabled the launch of Agrovista Amenity and it has made us a much stronger, more focussed group of individuals,” continued Neil. “I can safely say that the group of individuals we have working for us now are some of the most technical agronomists in the country. We are moving more towards an advice-driven business and away from a sales-driven business – and it is great to see.”

Neil rightfully admits to feeling proud when he reflects on his career to date; after all he started as a trainee amenity salesman and progressed through to middle and then senior management. In his current and final role, he is now one of three people that oversees the amenity division for Agrovista. However, there is one stand out moment in his career that he is particularly proud of.

“Mark Pyrah (now at ICL) and I introduced fungicide and chemical mixing and I feel that it changed the amenity market for the better,” said Neil. “We were the first to do it and it has now become standard practice in the industry.

“At the time we faced a lot of opposition from manufacturers, but we were determined because we could see so many benefits. It would reduce costs for the user because they would be using different active ingredients from different chemical groups, but more importantly it would prevent chemical resistance and offer a better control of diseases.”

Neil has always had an eye for innovation and is renowned for working with a wide range of manufacturers to bring new ideas and products into the marketplace. He does however admit that the process has changed somewhat over the years.

“15 years ago, we would always visit the American trade show – GIS,” said Neil. “New products in America used to be four or five years in front of us and so my mission was to look for new ideas and innovations. I used to identify the best ones and then introduce them into the UK market.

“This of course has changed over recent years due to the rise of the internet. New products are not as hard to find, and you can get information very quickly at the click of a button.”

Neil reflects fondly on his successful overseas missions and is responsible for introducing many turf and amenity solutions into the UK market. However, the industry, and Agrovista in particular, will give thanks to Neil for nurturing the next generation of turf experts.

In fact, anyone that has joined the company in the last twenty years would have been trained by Neil at some point.

“It is a nice feeling to take somebody with little or no experience through to becoming an experienced, top performer,” he said.

John Marland, Head of Amenity at Agrovista Amenity, believes that Neil has laid the foundations for a bright future.

“To summarise Neil’s career, I think of a quote of which its origin I believe is lost,” said John. “It reads…

“A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit.”

“Neil has planted an awful lot of trees. His legacy is what Agrovista Amenity is today and what it will be in the future.”

After a hugely successful career, Neil can now enjoy his retirement with his wife Kim of 39 years but admits that there will be times when he will miss the job.

“I’ve met so many wonderful and varied people and I’ve been fortunate enough to visit many great places and top sporting venues – it’s natural to miss that. But now I’m looking forward to having more time to myself – to play more golf and take up fishing again. More importantly, my wife and I have so many places we want to visit, and we fully intend on working our way through the bucket list.”

For more information about Agrovista UK, visit www.agrovista.co.uk/amenity

For the latest industry news visit turfmatters.co.uk/news

Get all of the big headlines, pictures, opinions and videos on stories that matter to you.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for fun, fresh and engaging content.

You can also find us on Facebook for more of your must-see news, features, videos and pictures from Turf Matters.

New range of robot mowers

October 1, 2021/in News, Press Release/by Nicki Jones

New range of robot mowers: With an annual growth that has reached tenfold, robotic mowers are becoming more popular with homeowners. However, their basic design has not changed significantly since they were invented in 1995.

Kress believes robotic mowers should do more than relieve users of the burden of pushing a mower each week. The Mission range has been designed from ground up, featuring innovative technologies that will set the industry agenda for the coming years.

New range of robot mowers

Kress Mission robots are enabled to take autonomous decisions to protect and enhance the health of turf. Thanks to the unique INTIVA technology (Intelligent Navigation Technology Inbound Variable Angle), Mission mowers optimize their mowing, requiring fewer passes to get the job done. When a border is reached, Mission robots gently turn in the best direction. Conversely, other robotic mowers stop, reverse, stop, and eventually turn, without being aware of which direction is best. Not only does this waste time, it wears the lawn along the borders and especially the corners.

Another innovation is the ultrasonic Obstacle Avoidance System, which is years ahead of the competition. Not only does the OAS avoid collisions, it tells the robot how to navigate complex paths such as through a group of trees in the lawn.

Temperature, precipitation, and solar radiation all affect grass growth. Connected to a network of local weather stations, Mission robots autonomously customize their work schedule accordingly.

Mission thrives in sloped gardens; it is equipped with REGEN technology that recharges the battery when the mower is running downhill, increasing the runtime.

Designing a robotic lawn mower around the grass does not mean neglecting users’ needs. The biggest complaint robotic lawnmower owners have is still manually trimming borders. Mission’s blade is offset to mow the perimeter of the lawn as closely as possible.

The charging station has also been re-thought from scratch. Unlike conventional charging stations which sit on large plastic pads, both unpleasant to the eye and killing the grass underneath, the pad of Mission’s base is the grass.

With 50 years of innovation backing Kress Power Tools, we are now launching the new 60V range of garden power tools and push mowers at Saltex in the UK and Ireland in time for Spring 2022 for selected professional dealers only.

What are the advantages of stocking Kress Robotik Mowers and 60V Garden power tools?:

As a dealer, there are many advantages for you, such as no more pre-seasons, no more stock holding and no cost to you until you have sold a product. Kress don’t ask for any payment up front – you only pay once you have sold. This helps protect your margin in-store and online, and means every dealer no matter how big or small,l is on a level playing field.

At Kress you get no-cost POS. We don’t charge for our POS, so you can get a stunning display up and running in no time and there is no investment from you. No set up fees, no risks.

Kress Robotik mowers and garden tools have advanced technology which make them the best choice for your customers, and all the advantages of working with Kress make them the best choice for your dealership. Over 50 dealers have already made the smart decision to get in on the action in this growing segment.

Why not contact one of the friendly team today?:

Tony tony.macer@positecgroup.com 07535146211 South / National

Jenni jenni.garford@positecgroup.com 07961052347 Central region

Lee lee.wardell@positecgroup.com 07961050088 Northern region

For the latest industry news visit turfmatters.co.uk/news

Get all of the big headlines, pictures, opinions and videos on stories that matter to you.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for fun, fresh and engaging content.

You can also find us on Facebook for more of your must-see news, features, videos and pictures from Turf Matters.

Half Sized Blog Element (Single Author Style)

Half Sized Blog Element (Multi Author Style)

Neil Pullen retires from Agrovista Amenity

New range of robot mowers

Neil Pullen retires from Agrovista Amenity

New range of robot mowers

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

Neil Pullen retires from Agrovista Amenity

New range of robot mowers

New range of robot mowers: With an annual growth that has reached tenfold, robotic mowers are becoming more popular with homeowners. However, their basic design has not changed significantly since they were invented in 1995.

RESOURCES

CONTACT

CONNECT