Engineer Hynek Valík highly values the newest equipment in his machinery-and-tractor fleet
Agroprogres Kateřinky s.r.o is not just an agricultural business based in Moravia, Czech Republic. This firm also provides a wide range of agricultural contracting services. But it pays particular attention to growing sugar beet.
The business serves many regular clients across a large area, from Bohumin to Velké Heráltice. Agroprogres offers its clients a full range of services — from standard tillage and seeding to mineral fertilizer application, mulching, crop protection, and harvesting.
The company traditionally specializes in growing sugar beet. This is evident from its machinery fleet. Sugar beet is the main crop on the firm’s own fields. Beyond that, on an area of 735 ha, it also grows cereals, rapeseed, corn, poppy, and soybean. Many clients also use its crop-protection services. Sugar beet is especially demanding in this respect. Herbicides need to be applied with particular care. Real professional experience is essential here.
ONLY THE BEST FOR THE CLIENT
“We can’t show up to a client with outdated machinery. That’s why we constantly invest in a modern machinery-and-tractor fleet,” says the firm’s head, engineer Hynek Valík.
— In March 2018, we bought a towed HORSCH Leeb 5 LT sprayer. It’s a perfect fit for the business’s conditions. In particular, thanks to its 27 m boom width, it can optimally treat both cereals and sugar beet. For seeding sugar beet, Agroprogres uses a special 12-row precision seeder with a 5.4 m working width.
We seed winter wheat with a 6 m wide pneumatic seeder. Its tramline rhythm also matches the Leeb 5 LT. To avoid damaging plants with wheels at the edges of the tramline, the sprayer is fitted with special tires of the appropriate width and large diameter. Thanks to a steerable drawbar, plants aren’t damaged on turns either. The wheels automatically follow the tractor’s track without any additional connection to the tractor — this is helped by information from a gyroscope mounted on the sprayer’s drawbar.
“Of course, stable, precise boom guidance was also important to me in choosing the HORSCH Leeb 5 LT,” Hynek Valík said, explaining his reasons for buying the sprayer.
Agroprogres Kateřinky is an agricultural business that also provides field-work services.
The towed HORSCH Leeb 5 LT sprayer is used for crop protection and fertilizer application
THE BEST QUALITY AT THE RIGHT TIME
Both on its own fields and while providing client services, the HORSCH Leeb 5 LT performs excellently. Contract work is always completed on time and to a high standard. The sprayer is fitted with the AutoSelect 4-2 automatic nozzle shutoff system. Nozzles turn on and off automatically depending on the application rate and travel speed. When the sprayer is paired with the Fendt Vario 720, the Topcon terminal fitted on it, together with the SectionControl function, provides automatic switching on and off of individual boom sections.
Both the operator and Agroprogres management are satisfied with the performance of the sprayer, built at the Landau plant. Even so, they decided not to stop at this machine, and keep an eye on further developments from Landau, in particular thanks to close contact with their dealer, the firm Lukrom, spol. s.r.o. At Agritechnica 2019, HORSCH presented another innovation — PrecisionSpray: pulse-width-modulation spraying. And straight away, in spring 2020, Lukrom introduced this new technology at Agroprogres. “We really value the chance to be at the cutting edge of technology and to apply it in practice. That’s exactly why the HORSCH Leeb 5 LT sprayer was replaced with a new machine fitted with the PrecisionSpray system.
The reason is very simple: traditionally, we deliberately apply DAM fertilizer at a variable rate. Pulse-width modulation lets us control the volume of fertilizer applied. We apply DAM both on our own fields and on clients’ fields. Most often these are farms where we provide the full range of services, from seeding to harvesting,” the manager explains his reasoning for the next investment.
Application maps created in the office on a computer are transferred to the sprayer operator’s mobile phone and then loaded onto the tractor’s terminal. There, the operator creates a new task and chooses the option not for a uniform application rate per hectare, but according to the application map’s data. During work, the electronics record the actual applied fertilizer rate. Accordingly, the map of the actual fertilizer application is then uploaded back to the computer.
On the ISOBUS terminal, the operator not only has satellite navigation, but can also configure the sprayer.
The most important functions can be controlled using function buttons on the Fendt 720 Vario tractor’s joystick
ALWAYS KEEPING UP WITH THE TIMES
The first HORSCH Leeb 5 LT covered 25,000 ha over three seasons and applied several million liters of working solution. And all without a single breakdown. So the next sprayer was chosen without hesitation. A new HORSCH Leeb 5 LT arrived at Agroprogress Kateřinky in March 2021. The sprayer has a 5,000 l liquid tank, just like the previous model, a 500 l clean-water tank, an axle with pneumatic suspension, and a boom with a 27 m working width.
However, the difference lies precisely in the boom. Where the previous version of the machine had pneumatic nozzle shutoff, it’s now controlled electronically. There’s no longer any need to turn nozzles on and off while moving — the liquid flow is regulated using pulse-width modulation. Each nozzle can open and close twenty times per second. A significant advantage of pulse-width modulation is a precise droplet size across the entire boom width. Even when the tractor and sprayer go around some obstacle (a pole, for example), the application rate is adjusted accordingly. According to the Agroprogres employee, the compensation system on turns works excellently.
EVEN IN EXTREME CONDITIONS
Unlike ordinary field work, applying crop-protection products depends significantly on weather conditions. With the HORSCH Leeb 5 LT sprayer, it’s possible to treat fields even in strong wind. And that’s a big advantage for a business providing field-work services.
“In windy weather, we can apply the working solution at reduced pressure. The droplet spectrum stays unchanged according to the set value, even at different travel speeds. That’s a big plus, in particular when we’re spraying herbicides on sugar beet crops,” Hynek Valík confirms. Wind drift is minimal, since the machine has no trouble working with a boom-to-surface distance of 30 cm. “The set height is actually maintained perfectly across the entire working pass. Despite the considerable working width, the boom’s position is always balanced and level,” Hynek Valík shares from his own experience. Nozzles are spaced 25 cm apart on the boom, and the SectionControl system controls sections 50 cm wide, meaning every two nozzles. If the operator wants to make manual adjustments, the machine’s entire working width is divided into twelve virtual sections.
This year, 200 ha of sugar beet was seeded using the HORSCH Maestro 12.45 CX.
A significant advantage is high productivity even with a large amount of crop residue
The machine is fitted with the NightLight system for nighttime work, which automatically cleans and rinses itself. So the operator can monitor the spray pattern from the tractor cab even after dark. This matters, since only about a third of spraying work is done during the day, with the rest happening at night. Another significant advantage here is the automatic tractor steering system, supported through Topcon. The operator can see the shape of the field they’re treating on the terminal, and determine how many hectares’ worth of working fluid remains in the tank. Automatic section switching on/off prevents double treatments or skips, meaning the operator can rely on precise boom guidance. If water and crop-protection products need to be topped up in the dark, a practical LED light strip at the bottom of the folding lid comes in handy.
SIMPLE CONTROL
The sprayer’s control system is intuitive. That’s an especially big plus given how intensively it’s used. The HORSCH Leeb 5 LT is controlled through the ISOBUS terminal. The application scheme can be viewed by tapping an icon on the display. The same screen lets you set or select functions (suction, mixing, spraying, and so on).
Important functions can be assigned as function buttons on the tractor’s joystick. This way, the operator needs just two buttons to control the sprayer’s drawbar. The large wheels can be turned at any moment if needed, even while the sprayer is stationary. Another prerequisite for quality service delivery is the sprayer’s cleaning system working excellently. To provide this, the HORSCH Leeb 5 LT is fitted with the CCS Pro system. The desired cleaning programme can easily be selected with one button press from the tractor cab, and the continuous tank-and-boom cleaning system starts working — cleaning and rinsing happen automatically. According to Hynek Valík, the cleaning system works perfectly: “Neither with the previous sprayer, nor with the current one, has there ever been a case of crop-protection products remaining in the tank.”
This spring, Agroprogres Kateřinky tested the sprayer on banded spraying of red clover cover with a full-coverage herbicide. The soil was treated in strips with 75 cm row spacing, together with fertilizer application, with corn seeded afterward. Red clover in the soil between the rows fixes nitrogen from the air.
Agroprogres is also very satisfied with the Leeb 5 LT’s productivity. Over an extended shift, they manage to treat 150 ha. The only limiting factor is the long distances between fields. If the fields were located next to each other, it would be possible to treat even 200 ha in a single daylight period.
AN ANSWER TO SIGNIFICANT STRAW RESIDUE
Agroprogres Kateřinky has been carrying out plowless tillage for the second year running now. The main implements for primary tillage are the HORSCH Terrano 6 FM cultivator and the Tiger 4 MT subsoiler. They’ve proven their effectiveness during client service work too. The Tiger 4 MT in particular is a great find for the business, since it’s able to incorporate a significant amount of crop residue into the soil.
This year, the company’s staff tested a new HORSCH Maestro 12.45 CX (12-row, 45 cm spacing) precision seeder for seeding sugar beet, while simultaneously applying fertilizer under the row. Thanks to a large central fertilizer hopper, this machine delivered high productivity. Another advantage when growing beet is the ability to seed with high quality even when there’s a significant amount of crop residue in the field. The machine handled these conditions very well. The precision and quality of seed placement were at a high level. The beet seeded on 200 ha this year yielded 76 t/ha.
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