Kartoffelhof GmbH / Heilmann AG

My name is Horst Brammer and I am the operations manager of Kartoffelhof Nüssau GmbH, a part of the Heilmann AG. Here in Schleswig-Holstein we grow 370 hectares of potatoes for consumption.

We produce potatoes in highest quality and sell them from our packing plant Heilmann AG. We sell potatoes in small packages to customers which means we sell small and uniformly potatoes. Due to that we decided for the first time this year to grow three rows in one bed to reach a better distribution of the plants. As told before, quality is most important in our business. We do not want to create tramlines in our beds, which means we drive with the sprayer above two beds with a track width of 3.6 meters. This also ensures a very stable boom and a very safe ride for the operator.

Three years ago we had to buy a new sprayer. We received a demonstration by Agrifac and were impressed by the stable boom balance. In the beginning we thought that the price was too high for us and a trailed sprayer could do the same. We found out this was not the case. We remembered Agrifac and decided to take an Endurance.

At the moment we spray 200 litres per hectare and with a tank capacity of 8000 litres, we are able to spray 40 hectares with one load. Colleagues from the Netherlands told us that they spray with much less water but at the moment this is to0 risky for us and we will reduce it in steps. We plan to go from 200 to 180 liters and later to 150 litres, such a reduction would increase the efficiency of the machine dramatically

In addition, one of our requirements is to use as much plant protection as needed but as little as possible. Fulfilling this requirement is only possible if the plant protection is distributed optimally on the field. With the Agrifac sprayer that is possible. With the HTA-System we are able to regulate the droplet size during operations, for example when wind is coming up we are able to make the droplets bigger in size and so we are not as sensitive to wind during these condition changes. 

The perfect working GPS-System avoids overlaps and we have nearly no spray liquid in the tank after spraying. That was the main point as to why we decided to invest in an Agrifac sprayer, additionally we are simply enthusiastic about the driving comfort, the easy operation and the boom stability. We also use the NoracSystem in our sprayer for the boom stability and it is working impeccable. The driver is able to do other important things and does not have to concentrate on the boom stability and that is fantastic.”