OK, much of the new kit on show at the Newark Showground last month had been seen at Agritechnica just a few weeks before, but there were also a number of new machines or developments that were making their worldwide debut at Lamma 2010.
    I never thought I'd say this, but for once a sprayer nozzle really caught my attention - rather than sending me straight to sleep.
    Billericay Farm Services' (BFS) new Autostreamer liquid fertiliser dribble bar has achieved what many thought impossible and given the 16% or so of UK farmers that uses liquid fertilisers the opportunity to use variable-rate application systems.
    The laws of fluid dynamics have previously been a barrier to variable-rate application because increasing the pressure in a traditional spraying system has a very small effect on the flow rate.
    BFS has found a way to overcome this physical barrier - known as Torricelli's Law - with its ingenious Autostreamer. Now flow rates from 0.6-6.0 lit/min within the pressure range of 1.1-3.0 bar are available on liquid fertiliser sprayers, and this means that variable-rate applications are now possible, making precision farming using N sensors and nutrient mapping and yield maps a reality.
    This is a real step change for users of liquid fertilisers, especially when you consider that to change application rates between fields used to involve manually altering the setting for each dribble bar.
    This sort of innovation bodes well for the farming industry and should be held up as an example of the kind of things the UK companies are doing to keep agriculture efficient and competitive.

Graeme Kirk
Managing editor