Machinery Mecca
With a record number of exhibitors and a new farming innovation arena, this year’s FTMTA event at Punchestown looks set to be the best yet, reports Derek Casey Roll up for ‘Game of Krones’
THE final touches are being put in place for the farm machinery highlight of 2017 — the biennial FTMTA Farm Machinery Show at Punchestown Racecourse, Naas, Co Kildare
The event kicks off on Thursday and continues until Saturday. Doors open each day at 10am and close at 6pm on Thursday and Friday, and 5pm on Saturday, which has become a popular day with part-time farmers and others who may find it difficult to attend on a weekday.
FTMTA boss Gary Ryan says this year’s show has attracted a capacity level of exhibitors, the exhibition space has been increased in order to cater for demand and some new elements have been added to the event.
A growing area at the show is the motor arena, where the focus is on the light commercial and commercial 4x4 categories for which the farming user is a significant market. Mitsubishi, Fiat, Toyota dealer, Crossings Motors Centre, and Volkswagen dealer, Sheehy Motor Group, are among the motoring exhibitors this year.
Enterprise Ireland is bringing a delegation of overseas machinery buyers and distributors to the event. Building on the strengths developed in the home market, the Irish farm machinery manufacturing sector is also bringing innovative and high-quality farm machinery solutions to customers worldwide.
A dedicated ‘Farming of Tomorrow’ section will highlight developments in precision agriculture/ smart farming and exhibitors here include Dairymaster and Sixty-5 Technologies. On Friday, there will be a presentation and demonstration on drone technology by Ian Kiely of Drone Consultants Ireland.
Tickets for the FTMTA show can be bought on the day or online from www.ftmta.ie. Online tickets are available for €15 as against €20 for admission on show days. GAME of Krones — featuring, as its focal point, a metal ‘throne’ fabricated in Dublin entirely from Krone machinery parts and components — will be one of the attractions on the Farmhand stand at the FTMTA farm machinery show in Punchestown this week.
The aptly-named throne took a Farmhand fabricator hundreds of parts and many painstaking hours to complete.
Apart from acting as a focal point for visitors, it is designed to highlight the long-standing relationship that exists between the German manufacturer and its Irish distributor, and to emphasise the importance that both place on the parts and components side of their operations.
Free to all who sit in it, those who choose to be photographed will be invited to make a small donation to Embrace FARM, the charity founded to support those who lost loved ones in farm accidents.
Showcase
The primary Farmhand stand will showcase a number of new models and equipment lines.
From Krone comes the all-new TC640 with its 19ft to 21ft wide rake — a unit that Farmhand says has “all the features of larger Krone rakes but at a more affordable price”. Also making its Irish debut will be the new Amazone ZAM spreader ( equipped with their latest metering and agitation system.
There will be new loaders from Alo Quicke, a new front weight/linkage safety device from Zuidberg and a full range of Austrian-made APV grass seeders among numerous other mowers, tedders, crop foragers and suchlike.
Farmhand managing director, Paul Scrivener describes the company’s 2017 presence at Punchestown as “the most exciting display we have ever put together”.