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STIGA Showcases Cutting-Edge Technology at Allianz Stadium

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STIGA Showcases Cutting-Edge Technology at Allianz Stadium: The STIGA team brought their full range of robotic and professional mowing solutions to the home of England Rugby this week, giving the grounds team at Allianz Stadium the opportunity to put the latest machines through their paces. 

As the newly appointed Official Groundskeeping Partner of the Rugby Football Union (RFU), STIGA was eager to give the Allianz grounds team hands-on experience with the brand’s innovative product range, including its latest autonomous robot mowers, award-winning APX PRO, battery-powered equipment and new electric tractors.

STIGA Showcases Cutting-Edge Technology at Allianz Stadium

STIGA Showcases Cutting-Edge Technology at Allianz Stadium

The STIGA team were amazed at how pristine the pitch looked, even though there had been a tough England v Argentina match the day before. It really highlighted just how tip-top and excellent the grounds staff are when it comes to maintaining their pitches and training grounds.

The roles of groundspeople within the RFU are far-reaching and span both professional and volunteer levels. These experts play a vital role across the RFU, from professional staff at Allianz Stadium, such as the Head Groundsman, to Regional Pitch Advisors who support clubs through the Pitch Advisory Service. At the community level, volunteers help to maintain pitches.

The multi-year partnership with the RFU reflects STIGA’s commitment to easing the load on volunteers and professional grounds teams in pitch maintenance, while ensuring world-class playing surfaces for players at every level. As part of the agreement, STIGA will support the maintenance of pitches and green spaces across the country, from elite England Rugby training facilities to grassroots clubs, by providing access to its cutting-edge autonomous mower technology and professional battery-powered tools.

Designed to deliver outstanding results with minimal effort, STIGA’s intelligent, wireless mowing systems help optimise turf care, reduce workload, and ensure consistently high-quality playing surfaces across the game.

James Gordon, Managing Director of STIGA UK, said:

“As Official Groundskeeping Partner of the RFU, it was very important for STIGA to bring our professional mowers and specialist rugby ground equipment to Allianz Stadium for the grounds team to try first-hand. 2026 will be a superb year for showcasing the quality and innovation of STIGA products, while also supporting clubs as we continue to help elevate standards across the sport.”

Jim Buttar, Head of Grounds and Technical Operations for the RFU, added:

“This has been a superb opportunity to see which STIGA lawn care products will be of greatest value, not only to us at Allianz Stadium but to grassroots clubs across the RFU. We are really looking forward to this partnership, which will allow clubs to excel both on the pitch and in the care of their grounds.”

STIGA will support both the England senior men’s and women’s teams, alongside grassroots rugby clubs across the country. With more than 90 years of garden care expertise, STIGA combines advanced technology with sustainable innovation to deliver professional-level performance on every surface.

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Price Turfcare and Ventrac at BTME 2026

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Price Turfcare and Ventrac at BTME 2026: Price Turfcare, will have a bigger stand, 122 in Hall 1, at BTME 2026, enabling them to exhibit a wider range of Ventrac products. There will be three of the 4520 tractor units showcasing an Aeravator and over seeding box combination, a triplex cylinder mower attachment and a front mounted bucket with rear mounted fertilizer spreader.

Just some of the more than 32 different attachments available. Ventrac has been particularly successful in the golf sector since being introduced into the UK by Price Turfcare. Hundreds of machines have been sold to courses over the last seven years. The BTME show stand will exhibit what is proving specifically attractive to golf course managers and operators, which is the fact that one tractor unit can complete many tasks such as mowing rough areas, collars, tee tops and fairways.

Price Turfcare and Ventrac at BTME 2026

Price Turfcare and Ventrac at BTME 2026

Then, within minutes, it can be used for aeration, top dressing, drainage or path reclamation tasks but for less capital outlay than something like a traditional fairway mower. The uniquely low centre of gravity allows more precipitous (up to 30 degrees) areas of the course to be tackled without fear of tipping of slipping. This versatility ensures Ventrac users get more out of the traction unit than they would out of a job specific machine. Come and see for yourself why so many golf courses are migrating towards Price Turfcare and the unique Ventract range.

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The Show Goes On with Kubota Fleet at The NEC

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The Show Goes On with Kubota Fleet at The NEC: A fleet of 30 G261 units from Kubota’s G-Series are helping to keep waste and facilities services on track at one of the country’s leading exhibition centres. The delivery from Hunts Engineering to The NEC Birmingham in March 2025 was well received by Darren Hawkins, Head of Soft Services, and a large team of OCS Group operatives who are now benefitting from Kubota comfort, convenience and reliability across the NEC, Vox Conference Centre and BP Pulse Arena.

OCS Group have been responsible for cleaning, waste, cloakrooms, portering and the wider estates at the NEC Group’s venues since 2012. Encompassing five venues in total, the need arose to replace the vehicles which are pivotal to the maintenance operation at three of the campus’s busiest sites. “We narrowed our search down to two brands before speaking to Richard Lucas from Hunts Engineering who brought us a Kubota G261 on demonstration” explains Darren. “We really put the machine through its paces, determined to find the limits of its capability and quite quickly discovered it could deliver everything our previous machines could with the added benefit of fantastic support from Richard and the team.”

The Show Goes On with Kubota Fleet at The NEC

The Show Goes On with Kubota Fleet at The NEC

With a couple of additional bespoke features – such as the fitting of amber safety beacons – to ensure the G261’s were fully fit for purpose, the first delivery of 20 units was made in March 2025, later joined by an additional 10 in July. “Their main task is to tow 1280 litre bins to various points, collecting litter and other waste during event build ups and breakdowns. As the old saying goes ‘the show must go on’ whether we’ve got machines to collect the litter or not so reliability is critical for us. So far, the Kubota’s haven’t missed a beat.”

The reliability of the fleet of G261’s reaffirms the sentiments of the NEC Estates Team, who have benefitted from the trusty power and performance of a Kubota M5-092 for the last 18 months. “It was the positive feedback from the Estates Department that really spurred me on to look at smaller machines in the Kubota range” Darren adds.

Depending on the event calendar, it’s not unusual for 20 or more of the G261’s to be out working on any given day. “The team have all received training on their operation which has made the transition relatively seamless, and hopefully means we’ll be able to better protect our investment.” Moving forwards, a combination of in-house monitoring and routine maintenance and servicing by Hunts will ensure the venue can continue to depend on the performance of the G261’s for years to come.

Steve Cartmell, NEC Group FM Contract Support Manager added, ““The teams’ choice of working with Hunts to provide Kubota machinery has ensured that the services OCS provide across our site can continue with improved reliability, fuel efficiency and user safety features, making the operation from event to event seamless.”

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Agrovista Amenity Innovation at BTME

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Agrovista Amenity Innovation at BTME: Agrovista Amenity will return to BTME 2026 with a line-up that reflects its continued commitment to practical, science-led turf solutions. Visitors to Stand 126 will be able to explore two of the industry’s most talked-about technologies – Attraxor® and Maxtima® – alongside an exciting new addition to Agrovista Amenity’s product portfolio, the Thor robotic mower.

Attraxor® – growth regulation with real-world efficiency

Attraxor® has become a core part of integrated turf management programmes thanks to its proven ability to regulate growth quickly, consistently and across all major amenity grass species. Powered by prohexadione-calcium, the formulation inhibits the gibberellic acid pathway, reducing upward growth and easing mowing demands. Once mixed in the spray tank, the active is immediately activated by water and begins regulating within as little as four hours.

Agrovista Amenity Innovation at BTME

Agrovista Amenity Innovation at BTME

Visitors can speak to Agrovista specialists about how Attraxor® helps reduce clipping yield, increase labour efficiency and produce denser, higher-quality swards. Its strong performance at rates as low as 375 g/ha, its suitability for early-season use, and its compatibility with key fertilisers, colourants, herbicides and fungicides make it an adaptable option for greens, fairways and sports surfaces. Whether the goal is labour savings, improved playability or reducing the dominance of Poa annua, Attraxor® continues to deliver reliable results throughout the growing season.

Maxtima® – flexible, turf-safe disease control

Agrovista Amenity will also highlight Maxtima®, featuring mefentrifluconazole – the industry’s first isopropanol-azole and a major step forward in DMI fungicide technology. Its flexible ‘hook-like’ molecular structure allows it to bind powerfully to target enzymes within fungal pathogens, delivering fast knockdown and long-lasting protection even in challenging, cool or variable weather.

With excellent turf safety, low application rates and up to 28 days of activity, Maxtima® provides broad-spectrum control while remaining a strong rotational partner for resistance management. Rapid foliar absorption forms internal leaf reservoirs, protecting the active from UV and wash-off and supporting extended translocation through the plant. The result is dependable performance against many of the toughest turf diseases encountered across golf, sports and amenity settings.

Introducing the Thor robotic mower

Making its BTME debut, the Thor robotic mower brings fully autonomous, all-electric mowing to professional turf management. Equipped with RTK, LiDAR and AI vision, Thor delivers precise navigation across large areas, cutting up to 36,000m² per day with a 730mm deck. Dual-wheel drive, robust all-terrain capability, auto-return charging and cloud-based mapping make the system a powerful option for sports fields, golf courses, public parks and estates seeking consistent finish with minimal operator input.

With real-time monitoring, safety sensors, a flexible cutting height range (10–100mm) and tablet or app-based control, Thor represents a future-ready approach to large-area mowing.

Agrovista Amenity’s technical team will be available throughout BTME to discuss product strategies, site-specific advice and integrated solutions. Visitors are encouraged to stop by Stand 126 to see the full range in action.

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

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Kubota to showcase high-cut capability at BTME

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Kubota to showcase high-cut capability at BTME: Kubota is set to make a popular return to BTME, once again partnering with Baroness to showcase a reliable and powerful portfolio of Japanese turf maintenance solutions on stand 624. The focus for 2026 is innovation in their out-front mowing range, with the FC4-441 fitted with a deck offering an impressive height of cut up to 7” taking centre stage.  

The FC4-441 is the latest addition to the FC mower range, designed to deliver versatile cutting performance on large areas such as parks and sports facilities. Equally at home on the golf course, the FC4-441 will be presented at BTME with a new out-front rotary cutting deck, capable of the higher heights of cut required for heather management, wildflower maintenance or the preservation of wildlife areas and longer roughs.

Kubota to showcase high-cut capability at BTME

Kubota to showcase high-cut capability at BTME

While the updated deck delivers improved performance in longer or more delicate vegetation, with a quick and simple adjustment the FC4-441 can cut other peripheral areas around the course – offering greenkeepers flexibility without compromise on cut quality or productivity – or even be used as a leaf collection unit thanks to its generous 1300L hopper.

No Kubota stand is ever complete without a compact tractor or two, with both the B2-261 and L2-452 making an appearance in Harrogate this January. Renowned for its power-to-size ratio, comfort and adaptability, the B2-261 is a popular choice with golf courses across the country. Meanwhile, the L2-452 combines robust, reliable technology with a high degree of operator comfort – providing 45hp of manoeuvrable performance for all mainstream maintenance tasks.

One of those tasks is aeration, with the L2-452 equipped with the Baroness TDA aerator showcasing the epitome of a productive partnership.

Visitors to stand 624 can also ask their questions to the Kubota technical team, who will be on hand across the three days to advise how these machines and others can support more efficient and sustainable golf course management.

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