Agrochemists predict that the current 2023 season will be the toughest for crop protection in the last 20 years. Under excess moisture, the aggressiveness of common diseases multiplies rapidly – before you know it, all that’s left of the harvest could be scraps. So the number of treatments may increase. Another unpleasant factor – the cost of sowing has risen by 50%. Like it or not, you start thinking about a strict cost-cutting regime. So maybe it’s time to give up on old, inefficient domestic sprayers? And take a closer look at a machine like the BERTHOUD Tracker?
The efficiency formula
“When we bought our towed BERTHOUD Tracker, it was almost as if we’d foreseen that crop-protection product prices would rise and crop-protection demands would grow, since, according to colleagues’ feedback, this machine let you save at least 20% on chemical products, plus high productivity and precision, which positively affects yield. During operation it fully lived up to every expectation and paid for itself long ago. For us, and for similar mid-sized farms, machines like this are the way out under today’s conditions,” says Leonid Formaniuk, head of the “Khlibnyi Dim” farm in Rivne region.
“We made that decision and we don’t regret it. Though, to be honest, we wanted to buy a self-propelled model, but didn’t have enough money, so a few years ago we bought a BERTHOUD Tracker instead. The machine is very simple and, at the same time, highly technological. It can be controlled using John Deere navigation, so it follows the rows precisely, doesn’t trample the crop, drive is taken from the wheel, you set a rate of 200 l, and no matter what speed you’re driving at, it will pour out exactly the rate needed. And we count every drop, because it’s worth its weight in gold – you need to apply about UAH 1,000 worth of chemicals per hectare, plus technological operations, refueling, altogether – UAH 1,500/ha. We look after it like the apple of our eye, service it and run diagnostics on time, and that’s why it never lets us down. I think this sprayer has already paid for itself twice over,” explains Ivan Ivanovych Ohura, head of a farm in Dnipropetrovsk region.
Over the past season, BERTHOUD specialists ran a comparative
study of the towed Tracker sprayer against domestic equivalents, and worked out a model of this machine’s economic efficiency using the example of a mid-sized farm in central Ukraine with a total area of 1,900 ha and the most common crop rotation: 700 ha of winter wheat, 500 ha of sunflower, and 700 ha of corn. They calculated the workload on the towed Tracker sprayer. Wheat is treated three times on average over the growing season, and sunflower and corn twice each. So the workload on the towed sprayer works out to: 700 × 3 + 500 × 2 + 700 × 2 = 4,500 ha.
They concluded that the economic effect of using the BERTHOUD sprayer rests on three pillars: reducing losses of chemical products; savings across all costs at every stage of the spraying process; and increasing both the quantity and quality of the harvest.
Pesticide costs
A farm with roughly 2,000 ha spends around UAH 5 million a year on pesticides on average. Could it spend less? Of course. Every agronomist will confirm that, because of dosing inaccuracies allowed by domestic towed sprayer systems, application rates get pushed up to the maximum recommended level.
The towed BERTHOUD sprayer, fitted with a unique pump driven not by the PTO (like all other similar machines) but by the wheel, provides 100% precision in applying chemical products, without electronics, and, most importantly, eliminating the human factor: the operator only needs to drive the tractor, without monitoring travel speed! The pump’s operation means there’s no need to build in a safety margin by increasing the rate – you can apply exactly the recommended rate. And the difference amounts to no less than 5% of the total volume of pesticides applied.
So, 5,000,000 × 5% = UAH 250,000 – that’s the saving on pesticide costs.
Crop trampling
As a rule, domestic sprayers are fitted with an 18 m boom. Every pass across the field trsamples the crop along the tractor’s track, trampling 60 cm of the treated surface each time (the width of two MTZ tractor tires).
18 m × 60 cm = 3.3% of each pass = 3.3% of the entire treated area.
A towed Berthoud sprayer’s boom, when paired with an MTZ tractor, can be 10 m longer, and yet it’s perfectly stabilized! Let’s calculate the trampled area when working with a 28 m boom sprayer. 28 m × 60 cm = 2.1% of each pass = 2.1% of the entire treated area. The difference: 3.3 – 2.1 = 1.2% of the trampled area, where the yield loss is 100%.
Let’s calculate these losses in money for wheat on an area of 700 ha, with a minimum yield of 5 t/ha and a nominal price of UAH 5,000 per tonne:
So, 700 ha × 5 t/ha × UAH 5,000/t = 17,500,000. If, using an average sprayer with 2.1% trampling, losses come to UAH 367,500, then BERTHOUD reduces these to UAH 210,000.
Fuel savings
In terms of productivity, one BERTHOUD Tracker equals three domestic sprayers. The difference in diesel consumption between BERTHOUD and a domestic equivalent comes to 30–50%. Why?
The first component of the savings: over the same stretch of field, the Berthoud covers 55% more area.
The second component: an MTZ tractor paired with a domestic sprayer has to constantly run at maximum revs to maintain pump pressure, while also needing to work in lower gears because of uneven fields, which drives up fuel consumption. In other words, if the PTO is engaged during spraying, it takes away part of the power (up to 30%). While the Berthoud is working, the PTO isn’t engaged at all, thanks to the pump’s design and its wheel-driven mechanism.
Beyond that, note this fact, and you can guess the consequences yourself: operating the BERTHOUD involves one MTZ tractor and one fuel tank; operating three domestic sprayers involves three MTZ tractors and three fuel tanks.
So, total area 1,900 ha, treated area 4,500 ha. Diesel price = UAH 46.00/l. Fuel consumption is roughly 0.7–0.8 l/ha.
4,500 ha × 0.7 l = 3,150 l × UAH 46 = UAH 144,900.
Diesel savings from using the three-times-more-productive Berthoud come to UAH 50,000–60,000.
Staff wages
As a reminder, in terms of productivity, one BERTHOUD Tracker equals three domestic sprayers. Staff wages are calculated based on the number of hectares covered. Wages for towed domestic sprayers (based on surveyed agricultural businesses): operator, UAH 20/ha.
With this, an operator earns UAH 800 per shift (40 ha × UAH 20/ha). Wages for towed BERTHOUD sprayers (based on surveyed agricultural businesses): operator, UAH 10/ha. With this, an operator earns UAH 1,500 per shift (150 ha × UAH 10/ha).
THE DIFFERENCE FOR THE BUSINESS:
UAH 20/ha – UAH 10/ha = UAH 10/ha
Total area 1,900 ha, treated area 4,500 ha.
4,500 ha × UAH 10/ha = UAH 45,000 – WAGE SAVINGS (while also raising productivity, treatment quality, and working conditions).
Tractor maintenance and repair
Once again, in terms of productivity, one BERTHOUD TRACKER equals three domestic sprayers. Using the BERTHOUD frees up two tractors for other work, and they don’t need servicing or repairs to take part in the spraying process.
Repair cost for 1 MTZ tractor = UAH 40,000–50,000 per year.
Two tractors – UAH 80,000.
The effect of increased yield
And here’s the third component of the economic effect – an increase in both the quantity and quality of the harvest thanks to using towed BERTHOUD sprayers. Today, almost 1,500 agricultural businesses in Ukraine that use this machine have already seen this for themselves. And overall, every fifth towed sprayer in Ukraine is a BERTHOUD Tracker.
The information below comes from BERTHOUD clients:
When treating crops with domestic sprayers, the obvious facts remain skips and overlaps (burns and contamination), a striped/patchy treatment pattern, and untimely treatments (didn’t manage in time, delayed, stood idle due to a breakdown). As a result, annual yield shortfalls: wheat – 3–7%, sunflower – 3–5%, corn – 3–5%.
And how much is that in money?
700 ha of wheat × 5 t/ha × UAH 5,000 = UAH 17,500,000. With losses of 3–7%, yield-shortfall losses come to UAH 525,000 – 1,285,000!
500 ha of sunflower × 3 t/ha × UAH 14,500 = UAH 21,750,000. With losses of 3–5% of the yield, losses come to UAH 525,000 – 1,225,000!
700 ha of corn × 6.0 t/ha × UAH 8,090 = UAH 33,978,000. With losses of 3–5% of the yield, losses come to UAH 1,019,340 – 1,698,900!
Untimely response
But there are also factors that can’t be predicted in advance. These are the risks of an untimely response to problems, which can cost millions! Here are a few examples:
– the risk of degraded grain quality from damage by sunn pest (stink bugs) and grain beetles;
– the risk, even at an early stage, of a 5–7% reduction in wheat yield mass, since adult sunn pests feed on the “milk” stage during early crop development;
– an untimely response to a sharp rise in pathogen numbers on many crops causes colossal losses!
For example, the meadow moth destroys everything in its path, and flea beetles on any cruciferous crop can lead to complete crop destruction at early growth stages within a matter of hours.
Now let’s do the math
UAH 250,000 – pesticide savings;
UAH 300,000 – reduced trampled area;
UAH 50,000 – diesel savings;
UAH 45,000 – wage savings;
UAH 80,000 – savings on tractor repairs;
UAH 1,225,000 – avoided risk of wheat yield loss;
UAH 1,087,500 – eliminated risk of sunflower yield loss;
UAH 1,698,900 – avoided risk of corn yield loss;
Economic effect: UAH 4,646,400.
And that’s with the sprayer priced at €60,000 × UAH 41.5 = UAH 2,490,000.
That’s not just a payback within the first season of operation, but
additional profit on top.
We often hear that BERTHOUD costs as much as four domestic sprayers. Our answer: price shouldn’t be measured in the number of equivalents, but in the effect you get. And here’s another question: how much would those four domestic units be worth on the secondary market?
Our answer: zero! Already in the second year of operation, you won’t be able to recover even half of the money invested. You can’t say the same about BERTHOUD!
So here’s another “bonus”: the towed BERTHOUD sprayer is the most popular and most expensive sprayer on the secondary market. Buying a sprayer like this is also a worthwhile investment.
So, there are only two possible futures with BERTHOUD. First: you won’t want to part with it, and it’ll still be around for your grandchildren. Second: you’ll want to buy a self-propelled sprayer, in which case you’ll be able to sell your towed BERTHOUD for more than other imported equivalents.
Olena Peltek,
Director, “BERTU Ukraine” LLC
“ZERNO” magazine
