David Currie, who is responsible for spraying a wide range of crops at C G Greig Farms, Gateside, Fife, is the 2008 Scottish regional winner of the Farm Sprayer Operator of the Year competition. He was presented with his prize, an engraved glass vase, at the Cereals Show in Lincolnshire this week.
For the last eight years Mr Currie, who is BASIS-qualified, has used a Knight trailed sprayer with a 24-metre boom and 3000-litre main tank to spray 800 hectares of wheat, barley, potatoes, broccoli, beans, peas and fodder beet on the farm. For the competition, he was judged on his knowledge of agro-chemicals and related legislation, equipment and application techniques.
The Knight sprayer has an auto-steering drawbar, automatic control of application rates to match forward speeds and Knight’s patented LASER agitation and re-circulation system, which reduces the amount of chemicals that remains in the spray-lines and speeds up washing-out procedures. The boom design provides exceptional strength as well as protection for the spray nozzles.