Tag Archive for: Focus

BAGMA focus on ‘stronger partnerships for stronger businesses’

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BAGMA focus on ‘stronger partnerships for stronger businesses’: The British Agricultural and Garden Machinery Association (BAGMA) are returning to BTME in 2026, setting the tone for a year of growth, strength and increased value for its membership.

Re-engaging with the dealer community and Industry Partners on stand 642, this year’s presence underscores BAGMA’s renewed commitment to partnerships – including the introduction of new Service Providers Brown & Brown and VIN Chip.

BAGMA focus on ‘stronger partnerships for stronger businesses’

BAGMA focus on ‘stronger partnerships for stronger businesses’

After the challenges of 2025 posed by the climate, geopolitical uncertainty and wavering economy, BAGMA’s focus has been on expanding and developing the support available to members during these difficult times. Going into 2026, BAGMA are pleased to have strengthened their line-up of approved partners to more than 15 – all offering exclusive support, discounts and services to BAGMA members.

The newest names on the growing list are Brown & Brown – specialists in providing benefits programmes and insurances which prioritise employee health, wellbeing and overall workplace satisfaction. BAGMA are also pleased to have partnered with VIN Chip Asset Security, offering sophisticated theft deterrent and forensic asset identification services in an attempt to tackle the ever-increasing issue of equipment theft.

Besides outlining member benefits and the comprehensive range of industry training courses available, visitors to the stand can also find out the details for the BAGMA Connect meeting programme for 2026.

Designed to enhance collaboration, promote best practice and drive business development, BAGMA will be delivering three Connect events throughout the year hosted by TORO UK Limited on 25th March, KUHN Farm Machinery on 2nd July and Kverneland Group (UK) Ltd on 21st October 2026. Open to members and non-members, Connect meetings serve as critical touchpoints to network and convene with industry experts and peers with the aim of exchanging ideas and building stronger businesses and relationships.

More details on BAGMA events and the full range of member benefits are available on the BAGMA website, www.bagma.com

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Time saving solutions the focus for GKB at BTME

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Time saving solutions the focus for GKB at BTME: Time is a precious and ever-decreasing commodity when it comes to completing operations around the golf course. That’s why the multi-functional Sandfiller will be taking centre stage on the GKB stand, when they return to BTME in 2024.

The GKB Sandfiller is designed to tackle the problem of surface drainage and aeration on sports turf and golf courses, especially on greens. A true multi-tasker, the Sandfiller scarifies and simultaneously backfills with sand, or a combination of sand and seed, in a single pass. Delivering the perfect conditions for excellent root growth and optimal plant health, the Sandfiller can be operated by one person, where other similar methods demand more time and labour.

Time saving solutions the focus for GKB at BTME

Time saving solutions the focus for GKB at BTME

Tried and tested by contractors and courses up and down the country, the heart of the Sandfiller utilises the principles of GKB’s much-praised Combinator – carbide blades effectively slitting the surface and creating channels to be easily refilled with dried sand and leaving a clean, play-ready finish in its wake.

Alongside the Sandfiller on stand 644 will be the equally versatile Combiseeder. Four working widths of Combiseeder are available, all equipped with twin spiked rollers which create 1500 holes per square metre, and two brushes to ensure seed is accurately deposited into the pockets for optimal germination conditions. Facilitating routine overseeding quickly and efficiently, the GKB Combiseeder proves an effective tool in retaining sward density and preventing weed, annual meadow grass or moss ingress as more chemical remedies are removed from the market.

The Sandfiller and Combiseeder are just two of a broad portfolio of quality-built maintenance solutions from GKB Machines, further details of which can be found by speaking to the technical team on hand across the three days in January.

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Sustainable seed formulations the focus for BTME

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Sustainable seed formulations the focus for BTME: Sustainable management of fine turf and sports turf surfaces doesn’t have to mean a compromise in visual merit or performance.

Demonstrating exactly that at BTME 2023 will be DLF, who return with a raft of new mixture formulations in their Johnsons Sports Seed range – incorporating new cultivars that promise to improve play quality and be kinder to the environment, and budgets, thanks to reduced reliance on chemical inputs.

Sustainable seed formulations the focus for BTME

Sustainable seed formulations the focus for BTME

With the ever-changing climatic pressures and growing demands of players and governing bodies, DLF are utilising research conducted across their global breeding centres to create mixtures with enhanced sustainability, that combat some of the biggest challenges faced today and those in the future. New for 2023 will be J Intense 50, a new renovation mixture for golf tees, pathways and high wear areas. This mix promises improved drought tolerance, disease resistance and rapid establishment thanks to the inclusion of DLF’s 4turf® perennial ryegrass.

One of Johnsons leading golf mixtures – J All Bent – has also been reformulated for 2023. With Browntop Bent (Agrostis Tenuis) demonstrating better wear tolerance under close mown conditions and a much lower need for water and fertiliser than Poa annua or Creeping Bent, J All Bent now incorporates Cleek alongside Arrowtown and Manor to make a three-cultivar blend. As a top performer in STRI close mown trials, Cleek will help to create a mixture with maximum shoot density, excellent playing quality and the highest level of fusarium tolerance.

Cleek is just one of several new cultivars chosen for inclusion across the portfolio in 2023. Orienette Chewings Fescue, Seroa Slender Creeping Red Fescue and Crystal Hard Fescue are amongst the others, and all are included in the 2023 J Premier Fairway formulation. These new cultivars will deliver the ultimate fairway sward in terms of density, visual merit and sustainable management, with the increase of hard and sheeps fescue improving tolerance of disease, drought and salt.

Along with changes to the sports turf mixtures across the Johnsons Sports Seed, MM Seed and Masterline ranges, information will also be available on the recently extended Colour Boost and UK native Pro Flora wild flower seed collections, which are ideal for increasing biodiversity and creating eye-catching focal points around the golf course.

The DLF technical team would also like to hear from you on what issues are impacting your management programmes in order to shape future educational and training events. Those who stop by stand 130 over the three days and share their thoughts can also pick up a free Johnsons snood and be entered into a draw for a chance to win a ‘Greens Tester’ – the perfect tool for monitoring speed, trueness and greens performance.

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Sprayer training and safety focus runs high

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Sprayer training and safety focus runs high: Operator training and safety figured strongly throughout Saltex 2021 on the Hozelock-Exel stand, which featured Cooper Pegler and Berthoud knapsack and pressure professional sprayers.

In what proved a busy two-days at the NEC, following the show’s absence from the 2020 calendar, grounds professionals were eager to learn latest trends and innovations across the sector.

Sprayer training and safety focus runs high

Sprayer training and safety focus runs high

“Our cutaway sprayer training units are attracting keen interest from industry trainers looking to heighten awareness among those taking PA1 and PA6 certification,” reported Allan Wainwright, Hozelock’s UK National Account Manager.

Leading centres like Harper Adams University have adopted the cutaway sprayers as training aids, while training body LANTRA is soon to follow suit as demand grows for operators to know sprayers’ inner workings so they can improve maintenance regimes.

“Moves towards a sustainable, circular groundscare sector are sending messages to private and public sector contractors to improve sprayer lifetime expectancy by moving from a throwaway culture to a more sustainable one,” Allan added after the show.

Operator comfort and safety is also of growing concern among contractors and landscapers, given that operators often put in full-day shifts carrying considerable weight of liquid on their backs.

Berthoud knapsacks all include ergonomically designed upper body support to spread loading away from the shoulders to the waist, reducing risk of long-term postural and spinal distortion.

“Several landscape contractors asked us how they could adapt their existing shoulder-strap cylinder sprayers to redistribute upper body forces,” Allan said. “Clearly the sector is starting to take on board the importance of ergonomic design to longer-term operator health and safety.”

Key visitors during Saltex included Hozelock-Exel dealer Progreen and wholesalers Spindrift Sprayers, who carry a weight of expertise about the Cooper Pegler and Berthoud brands.

“We’re delighted to support our dealer network at the show by promoting two of the UK’s top professional sprayer brands,” Allan added.

www.cooper-pegler.com

www.berthoud.fr/en

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Football Focus On The North-West

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Football Focus On The North-West: At Burnley FC’s Barnfield Training Ground, the Premier League club’s first order for John Deere machinery from local dealership Balmers GM has bedded in at what is reportedly Britain’s first football facility of its kind.

The 10ha Barnfield site includes 15 pitches altogether, including four full-size Desso and a 60 x 40m goalkeeper area in the first team zone, plus three and a half full-size Fibresand surfaces and two full-size natural soil pitches (topped up with sand over the years) in the Academy areas. The site also includes a full-size outdoor Desso 3G and indoor Desso 60 x 40m 3G. All pitches are split up into sizes appropriate for different age ranges and all feature full drainage, with Rainbird irrigation systems throughout the site.

Football Focus On The North-West

Head groundsman Barry O’Brien leads a nine-strong team and has witnessed plenty of changes in his 11 years here, the latest his own doing. After lengthy spells specifying other major turf machinery brands, Barry thought it was time to try John Deere. Following extensive trials, he specified the equipment required to cope with exacting conditions both outside and indoors.

The new tractor and mower fleet meets fresh demands that are centred on changing turfcare practices at the ground. For example, gone is the early ‘fluffy’ cut after the team fitted different rollers and adopted a more aggressive maintenance regime of raking out and brushing. “We had a grass factory here, generating far too much growth,” says Barry. “It would challenge any kit, but we’re fine now after adapting the way we do things.”

Balmer’s golf & turf area manager Andrew Meeks, whose family are Clarets fans (although he supports Liverpool!), agrees: “We’ve grown with each other over the years, so it was just a question of responding to Barry’s needs and supplying them, while working closely with the team to deliver the results they wanted.” Barry adds: “In doing that, we’ve developed a trusted relationship that has also helped us to expand our knowledge base.”

John Deere’s all-purpose X950R commercial lawn tractor with rear collection has been proving a deal-maker nationally, and Barry O’Brien’s assessment is no exception. “The machine is very good at sucking up pitch debris across the site as well as leaves off our top pitch, which lies next to National Trust woodland,” he says.

“The X950R is one of the best of its kind anywhere, and fits perfectly into the different approaches our grounds team is taking with football pitches – lighter rolling, clearing out and raking. Also, it stands the grass up so that cutting is more effective and reduces the risk of matting. We’d like another one of them, especially fitted with slick tyres.”

Barry also sees the value of his three 7700A PrecisionCut cylinder mowers in this environment. “They serve the football application just as well as they do golf. Obviously the sports differ, but in many ways they lend themselves to similar machinery applications. The customised grass boxes and nylon rollers are also major benefits.”

With Burnley manager Sean Dyche casting an eagle eye over pitch presentation, the last thing needed is turf machinery making the wrong impression. Used for heavier duty tasks such as hauling sprayers and fertiliser spreaders, the John Deere 4049R compact tractor sports Galaxy turf tyres that fit the bill for the bigger pitches, leaving the manager with little cause for complaint. “He loves the softer tyres – they have a big footprint but leave no imprint on the turf,” says Barry.

Additional 1026R and 2036R compact tractors serve as all-rounders, moving indoors to pull drag brushes and other kit that the team uses to maintain the Desso cross-knit pitch. As Barry adds: “It’s not just about the machinery but what you do with the turf between times that allows you to achieve the best results and benefits. That said, I saw the brilliant back-up we were getting from Balmers and the team’s confidence in the kit, and knew the combination would win through.”

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