Rory Vermeesch
The problem
Rory runs two cropping enterprises in Western Australia with his brothers – one located at Mount Madden with 8,200 hectares, and the other 150km away in Cascades with 12,000 hectares. The family team grow barley, lentils, wheat and canola, and needed an additional crop sprayer when they purchased the second property at Mount Madden.
Having already experienced the efficiency and quality of Agrifac’s mighty Endurance I, they opted to invest in the next-level model with a heightened design, the Endurance II.
“We had a lot less hectares to farm prior to bringing in the Agrifac,” explains Rory. “The Agrifac has now come onboard alongside the business growing in size. We had an identical pair of sonic tow-behind sprayers, both 10,000L tank capacity and 160ft boom-width, running at Cascades, and when we purchased Mount Madden we were in need of another sprayer to operate that country.”
Consideration
When looking at a new crop sprayer, Rory considered a number of other brands. He says Agrifac came out on top because of the ability to spray at speed with good ground clearance and boom width.
“We have a rather large canola program and our ground clearance was key as was streamline of the actual machine itself,” he says. “The ability to impact the least amount of crop as possible while spraying was a huge factor in buying the Agrifac. We felt it was more streamlined than a lot of other machines on the market, and better ground clearance, as well as being at the 160ft boom-width and 3m centres for our controlled traffic tramlining. We also loved the high tank capacity of 8,000L – we didn’t want to go any smaller than that.”
The economy foundation of Agrifac was an important one to Rory – getting the most bang for his buck, which is shown in the cost per hectare.
Rory says he and his brothers experienced minimal down time with the Endurance I, which is key when spraying due to the operation being time critical.
For Rory, more operating hours at full efficiency enabled his team to cover the ground they needed in a timely manner.
“Even being able to spray in varying wind and weather conditions – the Agrifac was still able to do a very good job in all weather conditions. The Endurance I got our foot in the door with Agrifac. We felt like we had a good run with that one, so we seriously contemplated trading that in for a new version.”
Agrifac is well known for being ‘Brilliant Simple’ – delivering the innovative tools that are extremely easy to use and maintain in order to produce sufficient, nutritious and safe food.
The Solution
Purchasing the Endurance II made economic sense for Rory and his brothers’ business because of the productivity of the machine.
“The productivity, the versatility and the precision of spraying – we thought no other machine could do that. Originally, we didn’t want to have two machines, but we felt this Endurance II was going to be more productive again than the Endurance I – and it’s certainly showing that!”
Rory says the Agrifac machinery is proving to be more productive and economic than their tow-behind sprayers thanks to the technology, the ability to spray in all different weather conditions and still do an accurate job.
Rory no longer needs to worry about the coverage of the crop due to weather conditions. With an Agrifac, he has total control at his fingertips – right in the comfort of his cab.
The StrictSprayPlus controls the application rate at individual nozzle level to achieve an accurate spray for the current application and conditions, with complete turn compensation too – a feature that gets a lot of Agrifac customers talking.
Another standout reason Rory and his brothers went for the Endurance II was the back-up service in their region. With an Agrifac Service Partner covering the Esperance region of WA, there are always mechanics available to drop in or catch on a call.
“They’re always keen to come out and see what needs to be done on the machine. It’s never been a hassle with either machine – we’re located 220km from the mechanic, but it’s never been an issue. Our whole experience with Agrifac has been good.”
Agrifac is keen to listen to the ideas of its customers and continually strives to deliver innovative solutions that fix a greater problem – not just place a bandage over the top for a temporary fix.
“The whole Agrifac team listens to our problems or suggestions and puts that to the Agrifac board to try and come up with a solution – it’s really nice to know that our voice is getting heard. It’s encouraging.”
The Agrifac team is not only passionate about our products, but also the customer service we deliver to all our clients.
Learn More about Condor Endurance
Condor Endurance
Condor Endurance
- Built for maximal capacity and speed
- J-booms available up to 55 metres
- 8000 litre tank
- Red Dot Award Winning 2019
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