There’s also the fact that many agricultural contractors provide a plant hire service for their customers.

Building and construction seems to be increasing around the country. It is more concentrated in the cities and urban areas at the moment, but will hopefully it will extend to the rest of the country. Plant machinery dealers have reported a good year regarding sales, and are optimistic going into 2017.

In this plant focus, we take a look at some new faces in the plant industry, in the form of Sunward, Doosan Power Products and LiuGong.

I get to grips with a rock-hard Hitachi in Kilkenny and see what goes into the manufacturing of the JCB backhoe - watch our video inside the factory.

We also take a look at some top tips when buying a used excavator and report from the last Euro Auction in Leeds.

Finally, we have some safety advice to keep in mind when using an excavator - especially if digging around underground electricity cables.