You get to turn something really bad into something really good.
You get to turn something really bad into something really good.
It is not exactly what agricultural machinery is normally used for, but in this case it is just what this Fendt 1050 Vario is supposed to do: crushing everything into small pieces! As only then, something will be able to grow and thrive again.
Huge areas of stones, big pieces of rock and tree stumps as far as the eye can see – when Garry Kemp drives over South Australian fields and plantations at 1 km/h, his Fendt 1050 Vario is doing pretty hard work. Because then his 517 hp strong tractor is pulling a multifunctional high-performance machine through the soil, which crushes everything that comes its way into grit size stones and dust. Once the 38 year-old is done with his job, the fields and plantations are almost unrecognizable: where there were once pieces of rock covering the landscape, there is now a grey and brown coloured blanket of finegrained stones and soil. And there, where once stood hundreds of tree stumps, is now a dark brown coloured and fertile piece of land. Through Garry Kemp’s soil tillage, through the enormous force and efficiency with which he destroys everything that comes his way, he makes it possible for farmers to use their fields, economically and entirely, so they can secure their survival.
Like many other farmers in the area, Garry’s family too owned fields with so called “problem spots”. These are small parts or even entire fields, which are either covered with loose pieces of rocks, or which have widespread areas of stones beneath them, which sometimes even have the size of football fields. Some of the rocks may be soft limestone, others flint or hard dolomite. “In the past, we couldn’t even drive over our own fields. The stones were just too big”, says the Australian from Allendale East, a town 450 km southwest of Melbourne. The classical solution, which consisted of working the fields with a surface rock crusher and a bulldozer didn’t quite convince him. So Garry Kemp decided to take things into his own hands, did some research and found his own solution for the problem: the multifunctional machine FAE MTH 255.
Behind the rather modest name stands a real multitalent. The 7.2 ton heavy machine combines a stone crusher, a rock grinder, an asphalt shredder as well as a stabilizer. “There has been a lot of rock crushers that do sort of loose surface rock and are mainly working on the surface“, explains Garry. “Our machine starts at around 15 centimetres deep and goes down to 35 centimetres. This allows us to also crush and grind the lower stone layers and really work the soil up.” An important advantage for the farmers: due to the crushing and efficient grinding of the rock, valuable minerals are released into the soil, which make it more fertile. The rock-riddled fields of the Kemp family are now free of stones. And Garry? After successfully working the fields of his family two years ago, he decided to start his own oneman company with his Fendt tractor and rock crusher and is now supporting farmers by fighting his way through their rock-riddled fields and removing tree stumps from bluegum plantations.
When Garry started his business, he still had a Fendt 936 Vario. Was his operation to make its mark, however, he would have to get the latest and most powerful technology to support him. And so, for a few months now he has been driving a Fendt 1050 Vario over the stone covered fields and wood plantations in the South East of South Australia – an investment that has already paid off. After all, thanks to his Fendt 1050 Vario he has been able to reduce his fuel consumption by 50 percent.
Apart from the fuel saving and balance of the tractor, there are two other technical features which Garry Kemp wouldn’t want to miss anymore. “Depending on the size and hardness of the stones or stumps, I constantly have to adjust my speed on the field”, explains the father of two. “The VarioDrive is ideal because it means no gear changes, which makes my work a lot easier. And thanks to the GPS and track guidance, I can concentrate more on what is happening in front and out the back!”
A field before its transformation
The same field after its transformation
Even though he often can’t go any faster than 2 km/h when working in the field with the biggest standard tractor in the world, for Garry Kemp, it is the best work in the world: “I just really enjoy driving into a field, which is rocky and useless and turn it into beautiful and fruitful soil. You get to turn something really bad into something really good. And the reaction of the farmers is just unbelievable. After all, their land is their livelihood!”
