The special landmark machine was handed over to a farm business from the Czech Republic at a special gold key ceremony held at the factory in February. John Deere Horst has taken only nine years to reach this production milestone for self-propelled sprayers.

Only one year ago, the factory also celebrated the production of its 10,000th trailed sprayer, since manufacturing of the first 800 Series machines started in late 2000. “The team at Horst can be proud of themselves for setting another milestone with the production of the 1,000th self-propelled sprayer,” says Matthias Steiner, the John Deere Horst factory manager. “We have created an advanced technology machine that is tailored to meet our customers’ needs in western Europe,” Steiner says.

The Horst factory has a long tradition in the plant protection industry, with over 70 years of experience in designing and manufacturing crop sprayers for the European market. In 1997, John Deere bought the business of Dutch manufacturer Douven, including the Horst facility, which has since been extended and developed to increase production capacity.

The Gold Key for the 1000th self-propelled sprayer was handed over to Czech customers Miloslav and Zdenek Lukas at the new factory visitor centre, which only opened in 2016. The R4040i will be used this season on the brothers’ 1,800ha family farm.