An era of precision planting
When Crister Stark travelled to Argentina in 2006 he got caught up in the idea of developing a Väderstad planter, it did not take long until that thought was translated to a clear vision shared within the company. Making just another planter was clearly not an option, and soon enough the company set out to make a planter with greater precision, and capacity ever witnessed before.
It took five years to develop
It took five years until the launch of Väderstad's first planter Tempo, it turned out to be the largest research and development project in the firm's soon to be 50 years of history.
The Tempo was carefully tested at the Hungarian family Radák's farm. The family got so excited about the precision planter that they sold their one year old planter, and bought one of the first serial manufactured Tempos in 2011.
What is planter?
The expression "planter" stands for precision drilling of crops like corn, cotton and sunflower. These crops are different from grain as they need to be planted with only eight to ten seeds per square meter, evenly spaced and on a specific depth for optimal emergence. This is exactly what is unique with the Tempo - it does it with excellent precision even at high speed.
The Gilstring Meter
Gert Gilstring, one of the driving forces in the project, is very excited about the technically advanced solutions, and the end result - Tempo. The new meter supports pressurized seed transport making the planter insensitive to slope, vibration and speed.
Väderstad opens subsidiary in Denmark and Romania
Väderstad has been present in Denmark since the 80s through the importer Kverneland. Over the years Denmark has become an increasingly important market and in 2011 the decision was made to set-up a wholly owned subsidiary. The establishment went smooth with six new hires, all with extensive experience from farming and with a strong dealer network that covers all of Denmark.
"It feels right to move closer to the Danish farmers as it allows Väderstad to better support with knowledge and service", says Fredrik Lundén Sales Manager at Väderstad.
Team Väderstad Denmark
The Danish team; Bjarne Hansen, Peter Nielsen, Christian Holst, Kasper Glibstrup and Morten Bræraa
Team Väderstad Romania
Romania's impending future made the decision easy to open a wholly owned subsidiary in Romania. The manager Mihai Rausser has collected a very enthusiastic team and an office close to Bucharest airport.
Väderstad says "Hello Africa"
In 2010 it was time for Väderstad to conquer yet another market. This time the sales team plugged southern part of Africa in the GPS, more precisely South Africa, Zambia and Kenya.
This was not Väderstad first trip to the continent. Rune Stark travelled already in the 60s to Kenya and Botswana through various development projects. However, it was not until later in the 90's the selling began with success in North Africa.
South Africa is almost three times the size of Sweden. Summers are warm and the local farmers get most of the rainfall in autumn between November and April.
As recent as in year 2010 contacts were established with farmers in South Africa and the current importer Kaapagri was established in South Africa. The importer Kaapagri is located north of Cape Town, in the wheat and oilseed district. In this area the popular machines are primarily Seed Hawks direct drills, Rollex rollers and Carriers.
The first Rapid in Zambia
In the spring of 2011 the first drill was delivered to the farm Mubuyu in southern Zambia. The farm of 2 000 hectares was founded by Dutchman Willem Lublinkhof and is now run by his son, Jesper. Mainly is wheat, soy but also coffee cultivated.
The farm workers are all involved when the Rapid is about to set-off.
Zambia is slightly smaller than Sweden and Norway together and located about ten latitudes south of the equator on the South African plateau. The country has no coastline and borders with eight countries.
Most rain falls in northern Zambia, where the rainy season lasts about six months, averaging of 1400 mm of rain per year. In the south it rains about half as much.
The Rapid’s seed placement saves the farm Mubuyu around 40 percent in seed cost and at the same time the number of passes are minimized.
Richard Waha responsible for sales in Africa made a recent farm visit and the yields had increased by one ton per hectare. This meant that the machine was paid off after only a year.
At the farm Mubuyu one family of twelve manages the irrigation system taking water from the Zambezi river. Responsibilities include maintainance and switching the irrigation system on-and off. In the middle stands this farm’s priest with a Bible in his hand. He was present when the machine was set-off and blessed the Rapid.
Thumbs up in Zambia
Thumbs up for Rapid! Lots of people are looking for jobs in the background, just in time for the coffee harvest.