Farming Monthly National August 2018 | Page 13

Rapid expansion calls for Gibbons Agricultural Fans rebranding

When Gibbons Agricultural Fans launched a range of steel and aluminium crop-conditioning fans last year, the Essexbased company couldn’ t have envisaged just how quickly the business would grow.
| Arable

A s Gibbons began supplying its 0.13 – 2.2kW graincooling pedestal fans to farmers across the UK and beyond, it became clear that there was so much more that it could offer to help before, during and after harvest.

A determination to assist farmers with all aspects of their electrical and mechanical requirements has led to the gradual addition of several time and energy-saving solutions to the Gibbons portfolio.
In the space of just 18 months, Gibbons has transformed its agricultural offering into one of the most comprehensive in the marketplace. To properly reflect the complete range of solutions it
now offers, Gibbons Agricultural Fans has been shortened to simply Gibbons Agricultural, with a new logo revealed as part of the rebranding.
The Gibbons Agricultural range is suitable for new and existing crop stores and includes: Plug & Dry™ A selection of time and energysaving accessories including fan starters, thermostats and extension leads which are designed to be fully compatible with the Gibbons Agricultural fans range. Each of these‘ plug-andplay’ solutions can be quickly installed by the user, removing the cost of having an electrician attend site. Gibbons offers full after-sales support, with engineers available to answer technical queries.
Plug & Cool™ Barn System
A packaged solution of grain fans, pedestals, starters and extension cables that allows users to automatically manage crop temperature from a single control panel. Once the desired temperature is set, wireless probes placed in the grain pile communicate continuously with the fully-equipped panel to ensure consistent and accurate temperature control.
Every Plug & Cool™ Barn System is bespoke designed, with the capacity for multiple fans within crop stores of all sizes. Farm services A comprehensive range of bespoke electrical services for grain stores and other farm buildings, including wiring, door controls, lighting and control panels. Gibbons also supplies,
installs, maintains and repairs all makes and models of electric motors, pumps, gearboxes and variable-speed drives.
Gibbons Agricultural Manager Josie Pickard says:“ We know that having access to this complete range of grain products and services from a single provider means farmers pay less than they would by sourcing individually, not to mention the time saving.
“ Using a single contractor also means less disruption while equipment is being installed compared with having multiple providers on site.”
For all enquiries, call Gibbons Agricultural Manager Josie Pickard on 01621 868 138 or email josie @ gibbonsgroup. co. uk

UK Potato Processors’ Association responds to Government announcement of support for farmers during dry weather

UK potato processors( crisp and French fry manufacturers) have welcomed the Government’ s commitment, in reaction to the current hot and arid weather conditions, to allow flexibility for farmers in the application of the rules on water abstraction.

W hilst this is an important step, this will not in itself resolve the issue. The reality is that the UK potato processing sector faces significant challenges this year, resulting from the current weather conditions, and especially as a result of the 10 consecutive days in July where recorded temperatures rose above 300C.

Whilst it is too early to give a definitive view of the impact on the yield and size of this year’ s crop, from the recently published AHDB figures on area plantingii it is clear that volumes will be significantly lower than average, and it is extremely likely that there will be serious issues in terms of availability of potatoes that are suitable for processing.
We believe that there will be an impact on potato size, dry matter and potentially an increase in defects such as cracking and bruising. It is also likely that there will be less crop going into storage, and not all stored crops will be of optimum quality. This will mean that impacts for UK potato processors will last well into the first half of 2019.
Similar weather conditions have been observed across mainland Europe, and it will limit surplus materials available for import. The lack of a definitive position on potato and potato seed importation, post-EU exit on 29 March 2019 only adds to the challenges that we face.
UK potato processors will of course take a pragmatic and flexible approach wherever possible, but we are limited to a certain extent by legislation and physical characteristics of specific varieties used for crisps and French fry production.
www. farmingmonthly. co. uk August 2018 | Farming Monthly | 13