Franz Grimme is the fourth generation of the Grimme family to take the reins of the company with his two sons also involved in the business. They specialise in potato and beet handling technology along with a daughter company ASA-lift which specialises in vegetable harvesters for carrots, turnips, onions and garlic. Even though they have a small concentrated demand for equipment in Ireland, Franz and his family were quick to point out the value of the Irish operation. They recently opened a new depot in Ballyboughal in north Co Dublin – clearly seeing a future in potatoes in Ireland. Last year Grimme had a turnover of just over €400m.

Potato power

Grimme previewed their biggest potato harvester ever made ahead of Agritechnica. The self-propelled four-row Ventor has 530hp and a 15t bunker. In order to fit within the 3m maximum transport width across Europe, the machine uses a series of folding hedgehog web separators mounted on both sides of the machine. These, along with a folding hopper, turn a large machine into a potato harvesting monster. Four 900mm tyres and crab-steering spread the machine’s width over a wider footprint. The operator’s cab rests above the full-width web which splits into two to allow for the 3m working width.

There is space for three people on the inspection platform to pick any clods or stones off. To make manoeuvring easier on this machine, ProCam gives the operator a 360° view of what’s happening behind the vehicle with no blind spots. Watching this machine purring up and down the field with ease was impressive especially when it was handling twice the volume of material as one trailed machine. Grimme are marketing this machine for its huge output but also for markets where getting skilled labour to operate harvesters is an issue.

Sugar rush

The global demand for sugar is the biggest driving force in the demand for beet harvesting technology. This is across Europe and around the world, according to Franz Grimme. The size and scale of the beet harvester we saw working with what seemed no effort at the Grimme farm was surreal. It couldn’t have been further away from the twin-row Armer-Salmon or Thyregod beet harvesters that were a common sight in Ireland during the days of sugar-beet industry. The REXOR is a six-wheeled crab-steering 30t capacity six-row harvester with 625hp. Eight- and nine-row options are also available. The eye-watering 61t fully loaded weight is carried on 800/70 R38 wheels on the front and four 1050/50 R32 on the rear. The flail topper at the front is followed by either walking shares or oppel wheels to loosen the beet from the ground.

These feed the beet on to a row of rollers to loosen any dirt or leaves and, in turn, to three large turbines after which it gets carried away quickly to the huge 30t tank. The whole process was seamless thanks to the light, dry soil without a tow-chain in sight.

Every aspect of this machine is infinitely adjustable from the cab, where the sound of the machine’s operation is but a hum. Extensive cameras and large rear-view mirrors are necessary to move this machine safely. If the sugar beet industry were to return to Ireland, who knows what machinery we could see harvesting beet here in time.