A COUPLE of important changes have been made by Grimme for its planting and preparation machines avalable for next year's potato crop season.

It has launched a 12m long transfer trailer with a 35-tonne capacity designed specifically for taking cereal and vegetable crops including onions, carrots, beetroot and potatoes directly from the harvester, as well as transferring fertiliser.

The Crop Cart has an unloading output of 10 tonnes/min and is available with three chassis - single axle, twin axle and rubber tracks. A 20-tonne version has also been developed for the European market, particularly in the UK where it can be used for beetroot.

The large dimension transfer elevator can be levelled hydraulically to guarantee the optimum position for all situations. The driver has a good view of the unloading elevator which is fitted at the front of the trailer.

Another addition from Grimme is a GPS section control system for its potato planter range, which automatically switches the planting elements on and off at headlands and on awkward shaped areas.

An 'at a glance' function will also be available, which shows the driver clearly the machine functions and section control parameters. A new software update also gives a higher accuracy of the single row switch-off.

It is now also possible to delete the headlands data after having set the guidance parameters of the field contours or field width changes. This is useful in L-shaped fields if headlands are not required everywhere.

And Grimme's new four-row GF400 rotary hiller has a new re-inforced mounting frame including three-point linkage and a tractor attachment for a trailed potato planter. Strong support wheels improve depth control and make this machine suitable for working in combination with a potato planter. The hiller is available with 75 or 90cm row widths.