Extended storage of seed and agrochemicals

Agrovista UK Ltd, the national agricultural supply and advisory company, will be moving its Shrewsbury depot from Harlescott Lane to Cartmel Drive on Harlescott Industrial Estate.

The move will be to a larger building, which is suited to storing an extended range of crop protection products, as well as seed.

“The new premises have three times the storage capacity of our old depot, which will allow us to stock a wider range, as well as greater quantities of popular lines,” says Tony Wiggin, Shrewsbury Depot Manager. “Coupled with this, the unit has been designed to maximise efficiencies allowing us to further streamline our distribution ensuring we can continually better our already high levels of service.

Tony Wiggin.

“We now have eight people working within the Shrewsbury depot and ten agronomists working in a region covering Aberystwth to Leicester,” he adds.

The new facilities will also give Agrovista a range of meeting rooms and hard-standing to hold NRoSO events and other technical training courses.

Agrovista will be holding an open day at the new depot, on the 23^rd February 2017. Customers will be sent an invitation and are welcome to come along.

Mr Wiggin adds that the open day will be valuable for customers to understand the increased range of services Agrovista offers, including precision farming advice, agronomy on all crops and farm management advice. Phil Edenborough, Head of Agrogate, will be available for a free check on the accuracy of customer’s BPS payments.

Mr Edenborough said: “It was refreshing to be able to say that most people had received their payments for 2016, but in his experience, there were still several errors, not only with some of the 2016 payments, but also with those from 2015.” He added that even without this year’s payment statements, it is possible to detect the errors.

There will also be a demonstration of the Veris soil surveying machine.

Agrovista Head of Precision Technology, Lewis Mckerrow, says the Veris can generate detailed soil maps for variable application and seed rates; it also measures soil conductivity, pH and organic matter in both top soil and deeper into the sub soil, which can be highly variable. We take 12-15 samples per hectare, compared with just one per hectare with conventional soil testing.”

Mr McKerrow says: “On trial sites, we have recorded up to 10% fuel savings in high organic matter areas where soil was more easily worked.

“Agrovista conducts a wide range of farm trials and research, locally and nationally, making our findings available to our customers via open days and via your farm agronomist,” explains Mr Wiggin.

“Our trials include crop agronomy, nutrition, cover crops and establishment methods, all specific to the local conditions and challenges. We have a team of precision farming specialists too, who can help set you up with your own precision kit, help you use the data you collect, or provide a service to map and prepare all types of variable application plans.”

The company’s core business is supplying farm inputs and agronomy advisory services to agricultural and horticultural businesses.

Agrovista’s new address will be Agrovista UK Ltd, Cartmel Drive, Harlescott Industrial Estate, Shrewsbury, SY1 3TB. On the 31st January, the company will vacate its old premises at Harlescott Lane, Harlescott, Shrewsbury, SY1 3AS.