Kubota does the Job.

The Weekly Times/ Tom McKenny/ June 15, 2011

A STRAWBERRY farmer hasn't looked back after trading in his old workhorse for a hand-picked Kubota.

A Coldstream strawberry grower has taken the next step in improving productivity with the addition of a new Kubota M126X tractor to his fleet.

Sam Violi likes to stay at the forefront of industry technology, and doesn't mind spreading knowledge gained through roles as president of the Victorian Strawberry Industry Development Association, as well as chairman of Strawberries Australia.

He has also worn hats on a handful of committees, including the industry's breeding program.

Recently, he replaced his main Landini workhorse with a new model Kubota on the 16ha farm which crops nine months of the year.

"We start in September, late October, and we are still in production at the moment (late May) for another week or so," Sam said.

"You've got short-growth varieties that grow for three months and other varieties that go for nine months.

"The short-growth varieties ensure crops are ready in spring, and the others take production through to June."

Although strawberry plants last for years, planting annually ensures good fruit size - a demand from the supermarkets and retailers.

However, consumers generally prefer smaller fruit, believing it is sweeter.

"That's not necessarily the case," Sam said.

"There are new varieties out of the US and some Australian varieties based on flavour and sweetness but it is the perception of people that is different - one will like high acid and the other won't."

Whatever dilemma flavour presents, continual production most certainly puts big demands on equipment.

"We purchased two Kubotas, a smaller 30hp (40kW) model and the M126X which replaced our big Landini," Sam said.

"We're trying to expand the business so you are looking for value for money and a four- or five-year tractor life if you are working them all the time." The 93kW M126X will do all the heavy ploughing and ripping, and rotary hoeing.

"We're pretty intensive," Sam said.

"We plant on a yearly basis so there's a fair bit of preparation work that has to be done.

"It is not like row crops where you rip and disc it and seed and you're gone.

"We've got to rip and plough and then re-rip to bring the ground to the right consistency to form beds and then lay plastic on them and have it all nice and loose and friable to plant the strawberry plants in." By nature it also is highly mechanised.

"When you've got six or seven hundred thousand plants of strawberries you need to have machinery doing the job - you can't do that manually," he said.

While Sam's business, Golden Vale Strawberries, took delivery of the Kubota as soon as it landed in the dealer's yard, it will soon be going back to have a creep gear and more remotes added.

"We were pretty desperate to get the tractor into the operation so as soon as we got it we put it to work," he said.

"When it finishes in a couple of weeks' time it can go in for its first service and get those things fitted."

According to Sam, creep gearing will become a key feature of the tractor.

"It's very important for our work that we have creep gears available," he said.

"They're used when we're preparing the soil for final laying of the plastic so the slower the tractor moves, the finer the till of the soil.

"Another feature that made us decide to go with the Kubota was the special 4WD gearing used selectively through a push button so your front wheels drive quicker than your rear wheels and it is able to turn a lot tighter.

"It's a very good feature and allows us to have shorter headlands.

"As I say to my son, 'For every metre of land wasted it's an area of production you're wasting'. If you're cutting a metre off in, say, three acres, how many plants would fit into that?

"It runs into the thousands and if you are producing so many strawberries per thousand plants and you equate that to kilos and dollar value, that's a fair bit of money out of your pocket.

"We had a look at the Kubota and it seemed to fit into our operation neatly and we didn't have to widen it too much and the clearance is exceptional."

Sam said growers need to do their homework.

"In business you need to look at what suitability you get to get that basic value for money, and Kubota seems to fit that for us at the moment."

Attachment-wise, Sam has also added a Sprayrite airdrop sprayer.

"That's gear-driven so you need the horsepower and the balance in the tractor," he said. His local Kubota dealer had one on trial and they work closely with the industry when they have new innovations. We needed the hydraulic lift on the booms to allow turning on the restricted headlands.

"We try to get all the new technology in to save water or have more production.

"We've had many people come here for visits and I always like to think outside the square, and it's no different with machinery.