May/June 2022 - 16

On top of that, he had fewer spray
events. He's getting higher yields.
We don't make claims on yields, but
we do know from all of the watersensitive,
independent tests that
Trimble agronomists have done
that we're getting way better disease
efficacy in corn. If you get those, you
will get better yields.
" So, when the grower says that
they are happy, that's fine, but what
we do claim is that it's proven time
and time again that we save water,
labor and maintenance. There's
no maintenance whatsoever. We're
getting better coverage, efficacy and
disease control. Growers are saying
they are getting higher yields across
the board. "
SPECIALTY CROP PROJECTS
Wickham said specialty crop
growers will be a key user target for
MagrowTec's technologies.
" We've done a lot of strawberries, "
he said. " We've worked a lot with
Driscoll's in California. They work
a lot with basic and sophisticated
sprayers. We've worked with
strawberry, tomato and bell pepper
guys in Florida. We do a lot with
specialty crops. We've done a lot with
lettuce and salads over in Salinas, as
well as carrots and broccoli. "
Retrofitting airblast sprayers will be
a component to MagrowTec's program.
" Most tree fruits are airblast
technology, " he said. " We did some
testing in France because it's used
for grapes in the vine industry.
Regulations are coming that are going
to restrict their spray abilities. We
see huge opportunities in pistachios,
citrus, orchards and grapes. It is a
different product.
" Airblast is going to be one of the
new products we launch over the
next
18
months. We're putting
together a dedicated team and
identifying manufacturers we want to
work with. Then, we'll do field studies
with the design. "
In 2021, MagGrow partnered with
Airtec Sprayers, a Florida-based
sprayer manufacturer with customers
across North and South America, to
provide a combined spraying system
for the specialty crop sector.
" They do air-assist technology, "
Wickham said. " They use it in
citrus and in orchards in the Pacific
Northwest. We signed an agreement
with them for both retrofit and for
new sprayers. They recently did a
nursery and the grower was amazed
at the amount of coverage that they
got with both the air-assist and
MagGrow together. They were getting
coverage throughout the canopy and
underneath. For disease control it was
really a huge transformational change.
" We are beginning to do studies in
the Northwest around orchards for
both, " he said. " That's going to help us
get into that market now. We will still
come with our own technology, while
still working with Airtec. We'll come
with our own retrofit airblast product
for new sprayers that can be used by
any manufacturer around the world.
Then, for current users, they can just
put a MagGrow kit on. "
MagrowTec is " doing work around
delivery of nutrients to the soil, which
is very topical, " Wickham said.
16
Spudman.com
http://www.Spudman.com
May/June 2022

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