MORAYSHIRE machinery dealer and mechanical engineer, Alistair Young Engineering, has won two prestigious awards from grassland machinery giant, Krone. 
The family-run business, well-known as a sales, maintenance and parts service, based at Dunphail, near Forres, was awarded both Krone UK ‘Dealer of the Year’ and Krone UK ‘Training Dealer of the Year’ at the recent Krone UK dealer conference.
The business, which is also a past UK Valtra dealer award winner, has become a familiar name within the farming community across the Morayshire, Nairnshire, Speyside and Inverness districts, having initially started out as a machinery repairs specialist, before branching into dealerships. 
“We are very service orientated and we will back up machines all the way, but it’s tractors and grassland equipment that is the core of our business here,” said managing director, Alistair Young, who is an agricultural mechanic to trade. 
“Last year, we had strong enquiries regarding Krone forage harvesters and we managed to sell two locally. That was a big step for us, however, in order to continue selling such high-tech, expensive machinery, we would aim to sell more foragers per year to justify the costs of training, parts and specialised equipment.”
While Valtra and Krone machinery sells best for the business, it also has franchises for McHale, KRM and Bamford, and sells used machinery.
“Valtra was the first dealership which we took on and although it took a while for the brand to be recognised, we now have a high market share in Morayshire. So far this year we have sold a total of 27 Valtras,” commented Alistair. 
With the majority of service work carried out on farm and three well-equipped service vans attending to customers from Fochabers to Inverness, and down to Fort William, Alistair’s three full-time served mechanics were put through an advanced mechanics course which helped win the training award for the company. 
Despite ongoing uncertainty for the industry and the delay in basic payments, Alistair commented that 2016 had been one of his best years in business. 
“We had a great year in 2016 and luckily the delay in payments didn’t have much of an effect on us,” said Alistair. 
“We are lucky to have so many loyal customers that continue to support us year in, year out but quite a few of those are hill farmers and it’s them that you worry about. I reckon the prosperous farmers will get bigger and as a result, the smaller farmers will suffer,” he added.
Having said that, Alistair commented that farmers are demanding more and more automation in machinery and he reckoned that the square baler market was growing.
“Haulage costs are forever increasing and I reckon this will force people to move from round balers to square balers,” said Alistair.
“Although they are much more expensive, we have a shorter window for arable work up here so the fact a square baler can operate a lot faster and can be stored and handled easier certainly comes at a great advantage.”
The staff at Alistair Young Engineering had more to celebrate when the youngest of their team, Fergus Forbes (20), a local farmer’s son from Little Kildrummie, Nairn, was awarded the RNAS agricultural apprentice of the year. 
Continuing to excel in both the workshop and the classroom, Fergus is currently in his final year of completing his SVQ Level 3 Landbased Engineering course.
“I was absolutely delighted to receive the Krone awards and it came as quite a surprise. It’s a team effort though, they couldn’t have been won without the great staff here and of course our loyal and supportive customers,” said Alistair.
The team at Alistair Young Engineering includes, salesman, Alistair Nicolson; service manager, Phil Barnett; parts manager, Neil Murdoch; service mechanics, Steven Young, Kevin Anderson and Steven Ligertwood; apprentice, Fergus Forbes; admin, Trudi Young and Fiona MacLennan.
 
Krone UK has restructured its dealer network to reflect a growing confidence in its entire product range and increased optimism for the future growth opportunities post-Brexit. 
Turnover for the grassland and forage manufacturer increased by around 13% between 2015-2016 and 2017 from £19.6m to £21.9m – this is the second highest turnover since trading began.
High density balers and forage wagons in particular have seen a significant jump in sales, while spare parts turnover has increased to nearly 14% of company turnover.
Significant changes have been made to the dealer network across the country.
Dormant dealer contracts and those not focused on the Krone brand have been terminated and replaced with new dealers.