TPI GERMANY TRIP INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY HIGHLIGHT
Compiled by Suz Trusty
As reported in the “TPI Germany Travel Diary” by Allie Shriver, TPI membership and marketing manager, who coordinated the trip, “With the help of European Turfgrass Producers (ETP) President and TPI Board Member Albrecht Knigge, a group of TPI members embarked on an excursion throughout the Lower Saxony region of Germany. At the core of the trip was participation in the ETP Expo, an educational field day and networking event that ETP holds every two or three years. Te 2022 ETP Expo was held in Pattensen, Germany, on Albrecht’s farm, Rasenland Pattensener.”
Additional visits to local enterprises provided even more opportunities to experience the culture and observe the innovation and technology incorporated into each of these family-owned enterprises. Te TPI group toured Schloss Hamelschenburg, a revenue-generating castle; BOFERA – Der Rollrasen, a turfgrass production farm growing on clay; Ruheforst, a unique forest burial site; a multi-crop Knigge farming operation; and Matthies Landwirtschaft, a site with over 400 years of multi-crop farming.
Engineering and Innovation
John Coombs of Coombs Sod Farms, Elmer, New Jersey, reported, “Te ETP Expo was held in Germany, but the association extends all across Europe, and those from many countries were exhibitors and attendees. I had always heard the European engineering was ahead of our U.S. engineering, and it looks like they were years ahead of us.” Bob McCurdy of McCurdy Sod Farms, Dyer, Tennessee, added, “Te European engineering ability was obvious in all the equipment we saw.”
Innovative mowers were a highlight for most of the attendees. John reported, “Te blades on most of the rotary mowers were electrically driven. Because energy usage is very important, they are very energy conscious. With the electric power, they have fewer moving parts, so less to deal with in construction and later in maintenance.”
Wade Wilbur of Sod Shop, Lawrence, Kansas, said, “We have a couple of electric mowers that are readily used and available in the USA, but it seems the majority of the mowers at the ETP show were driven by a diesel tractor that was turning a generator. Te electrical power created by the generator was then sent to electric motors that turned the blades. Tis method eliminates many belts and pulleys in the system.”
Ryan Menken of Jasperson Sod Farm, Union Grove, Wisconsin, noted, “Albrecht referenced the push for electrically driven motors due in part to the proximity of neighbors, to try to cut down on noise pollution. I thought that was unique.” Bob added, “A machine that we saw at BOFERA had the mower at the front and a generator at the back to provide the power to operate the mower. I saw that once at an event at Bobby Winstead’s in the early 2000s, but I’ve not seen it again in the U.S.”
Ryan noted, “Te front mounted mowers allowed them to mow in front of their tractor/implement before running down the grass. At times, the mower does not have enough suction to pick up the grass if it is run over before the mower cuts it.” Bob added, “With the mowers at the front of the tractor, the mower operator can see everything happening. Some of the mowers had a sweeper on the front, not to sweep away clippings or debris, but to stand the grass up before they mow it. Some of the equipment featured mowers on the front and back of the power unit and some of those could be set up in different configurations. About half of the mowers we saw had no skirts around the mowing units. So they dispersed the grass clippings over a wider area.”Te reel mowers garnered attention, too. Bob noted airbrakes, heavy construction, and heavy-duty transport systems.
Other Equipment Highlights
Engineering and innovation were on display at the ETP Expo. Photo by Bob McCurdy
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Wade reported on the differences in seeders. “We have grass seed specific air seeders on the market in the USA, but in Europe, it seemed the majority of the farms were using air to transport the seed from the hopper to the ground.” John noted, “Te big equipment, such as combines, used wider wheels or tracks, not the double sets of wheels we use in the U.S.”
TPI Turf News November/December 2022
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