Lemken recently purchased Dutch manufacturer of mechanical weeding options utilising camera technology Steketee. The Dutch firm also manufactures a range of tillage machines including a front-mounted swing furrow press and a plough range under the Rumptstad name.

For now, it will be business as usual for Steketee, which will be channelled through Lemken’s wider dealer network. It is expected that in time the range will be Lemken blue and the Steketee name could be phased out. Production is to stay in the Netherlands as that is where the staff expertise is.

Lemken points out that this is what it did with the two sprayer makers, RTS and Jacoby, which it purchased in 2005.

Ventilation business

The purchase does not include Steketee’s ventilation business, while former owner and managing director Klaas Veerman will continue to have responsibility for Steketee’s operative management together with Iljan Schouten, head of Lemken’s crop care division.