Machinery & Technology: New soil techniques evolve from role of the plough

One-pass cultivators have made their mark too in helping farmers to establish crops by using less fuel and saving on time in the field.

One of the UK’s leading companies in this sector is Sumo UK Ltd based in Melbourne in the East Riding. Shaun Wealleans, son of a farm manager, established the business in 2001 and his Sumo Trio One Pass Stubble Cultivator was launched in 2002. He now sees around 3,000 of his machines in use all around the world.

“Soil is an arable farmer’s biggest asset,” says Rachael Walshaw, the company’s marketing co-ordinator. “Soil is where the money is and what we try to do is help farmers understand how to look after it well. We’re finding that many have become confused and don’t know what to do for the best because they’ve been used to ploughing.

“The most topical thing when we advise them is that they are trying to save on their establishment costs and we explain that min-till and one-pass does just that. You save on time and you save on tractor costs in two ways - by using less fuel and in running the tractor for less hours it has the potential of lasting longer.

“Lots of farmers still spend hours turning over their soil every year and there may be times when ploughing is necessary dependent on your land, soil type and conditions but minimum disturbance is the way many are now looking and there are those who have not used a plough for years.

“Shaun designed the Sumo Trio from scratch and the three elements of subsoiler legs, discs and the recently redesigned multipacka that leaves a weatherproof finish create a fantastic seedbed that sees us competing well against industry giants such as Vaderstad, but it’s not about competition. What we want to do is show just how min-till and one-pass can help the farm right now.

“There is no doubt though that what Shaun has done with the Sumo Trio has allowed farmers of all size of farm to experience the benefits.”

More recently there has been a move to strip-till drilling and direct drilling, both aimed at assisting farms even further and Shaun’s team at Sumo is currently manufacturing the Sumo DTS (Deep Tillage Seeder) that Rachael says is the next step up.

“The idea is that you are cultivating a strip of land. The DTS is a one-pass drill that works into the previous year’s crop residues. It’s all about not working the ground unnecessarily and leaving much of the soil undisturbed which also fits in well with conservation in agriculture. It also leads to better drainage and the better well-being of the soil.”

Today’s manufacturing site at Redgates on the edge of Melbourne, near Pocklington is equipped with a robot welder and sheet metal lasers with all products made to order.

Shaun was joined by new company directors Simon Herring and James Sweeting in 2015, both farmers’ sons who have been successful in other businesses and who had admired Shaun’s progress for a number of years. He started out as SW Agriservices in 1991 when he purchased a transit van and travelled North and East Yorkshire repairing other brands of machine. His first product as Sumo was a tyre press made out of chuck tyres.

Simon and James now have a controlling stake in the company that employs a team of 36 with Simon as managing director, allowing Shaun to concentrate on new products.

Hard times have hit a number of farm machinery manufacturers in the past 18 months with the price of grain having dropped from its highs of around five years ago, but Rachael is keen to stress that Sumo is in good shape.

“Shaun first anticipated life was getting tougher for farmers in autumn 2014 and that impacts on everybody. We’re now well geared up for long-term stability and being here to help farmers save time and money.

“We find that our role isn’t really about selling the machines so much, as farmers can see and understand the quality. We’re selling the concepts of min-till and direct drilling.

“If any farmer just wants to chat with us about any aspect of those we’re always happy to talk. We understand that these kind of decisions take some time.”

Sumo UK Ltd is based at Redgates, Melbourne near Pocklington. For more details, see www.sumo1.com