AGRICULTURE: NEW WORLD RECORD 1413.19 acres of seed and fertilizer drilled in 24 hours

BEELINE Technologies, AGCO Challenger, AGRO-SOYUZ & HORSCH set a new world record for the number of acres planted in a 24-hour time period.

WESTMINSTER, Colorado, USA; Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; Duluth, Georga, USA; and Dniepropetrovsk, Ukraine (PRWEB) June 1, 2003

BEELINE along with OEM partner Challenger (part of the AGCO group), Agro-Soyuz and Horsch planting equipment set the record for drilling seed and fertilizer at 1413.19 acres in just one day at the Agro-Soyuz farm in the Sinelnikovo region, Dniepropetrovsk, Ukraine.

This world record is unique because all of the equipment used was standard farming equipment and was conducted under commercial farming conditions. Agro-Soyuz is Ukraines leading farming company and grows 18,533 acres of arable crops and regardless of the success of the world record attempt the fields used would still be required to produce a commercial quality crop of Spring
Barley and meet the companys high quality standards.

Typical soil types in the Steppe region of Ukraine are predominantly chernozem, a black, peaty clay loam. Here enormous fields are the norm and the record took place in two fields where the runs ranged from 1.7 miles up to 2.48 miles long.

To maintain planting rates over the two fields it was imperative that overlap and skip were minimized while using the entire 60.2 feet of the Horsch min-till drill over a 24-hour time period irrespective of working at night, driver fatigue and the width of the implement. In general, drivers miss or rework at least 10% of their field during daylight hours. Under poor visual conditions overlap and skip can reach up to 25% and operation speeds tend to be slower. Removing operator error to maximize efficiency and BEELINEs proven reliability was the key to achieving world record status. This was where BEELINEs blend of inertial navigation system (INS) and global positioning system (GPS) technology came in to play.

BEELINE was the first company in the world to commercialize hands free Steering Assist in agricultural machinery and assumes the responsibility of holding a straight line with sub-inch accuracy ensuring increased job quality and dependable 24-hour operation. This gives the driver more freedom in the cab and enables him to more closely monitor the implement and outside environment.

The equipment used in the gaining the world record was completely standard. The Challenger fitted with Auto-Guide powered by BEELINE Technologies, came straight out of the AGCO factory in the USA and was shipped to Ukraine. The Challenger MT865 is the latest in the line of yellow tractors and packs a whopping 500hp allowing an average work rate of 60 acres per hour with fuel consumption of only 0.4 gallon per acre throughout the world record run.

The Horsch drill, built by Agro-Soyuz in the Ukraine was also unmodified. Seed and fertilizer rates were the same as for similar spring barley fields at Agro-Soyuz. The variety sown, Prairie, was put down at 116 lb per acre with 330 lb per acre of 16/16/16 prilled NPK fertilizer. Average yield in the Ukraine is 0.93t/acre. Average rainfall is 20 inches. While achieving average work rate of 60 acres per hour in the record run, the drill regularly works at about 39.5 acres per hour - this is in contrast to equipment usually found on Ukrainian farms that only achieve 49.42 acres per day!

Ease of use was another key factor in gaining the world record especially as it was the first time hands free Steering Assist had been used commercially in the Ukraine. Auto-Guide is so easy to use that during the preparations for the world record planning, non-English speaking drivers were taught how to operate hands free by a person whose only language is English.

Auto-Guide is a true one-touch hands free Steering Assist and is fully integrated in to the Challenger MTs Tractor Management Center (TMC) that incorporates a number of tractor and implement functions. At the end of the field, One-Touch prepares the tractor and raises the implement for the turn. The operator simply turns the steering wheel and One-Touch lowers the implement, shifts speed and re-activates Auto-Guide for the next pass.

Adjudicators reports and evidence has been lodged with Guinness Book of Records for official acknowledgement. The event was monitored by Dmytro Woytjuk, Dean, Professor of the National Agricultural University of Ukraine, and Leonid Pogorily, Director of Ukrainian State Center for Testing of Agricultural Machinery. Staff from both institutes observed the entire event, checking the machine operation, seeding quality and eventual area covered.

BEELINE Technologies Pty Ltd is a privately held company, which through pioneering research has achieved global market leadership in GPS / INS steering assist systems for self-propelled agricultural equipment. BEELINE is proud to be a company founded by farmers, forging useful technology for farmers. BEELINE Technologies was established in 1994 and is headquartered in Brisbane, Australia, with offices in Fresno, Calif. and Westminster, Col. For more information, visit the companys Web site at: www.BEELINE.ag

For images of the World Planting Record please contact Bridget Kirkwood at +1 (303) 457-9333 ext 222 or visit the BEELINE Media Center at www.BEELINE.ag/media/