A SUFFOLK agricultural worker has been named as the UK’s top farm sprayer operator.
Rob Cannell from Dennington, near Framlingham, has been named National Syngenta Farm Sprayer Operator of the Year, in a contest sponsored by crop protection and seed breeding group Syngenta in association with Farmers Weekly.
Mr Cannell is a highly experienced sprayer operator, responsible for spraying up to 10,000 hectares a year for Dennington Hall Farms, which grows a diverse range of arable crops including wheat and oilseed rape, along with beans and sugar beet.
He uses a Bateman RB35, equipped with 32m self-levelling booms, auto-shut off and a GPS guidance system. He had also built himself an innovative pattenator to test the accuracy of individual nozzles and spray patterns, to ensure he is continually achieving the best possible results.
The Eastern Counties regional winner in the contest was Matthew Camps of Maddever Contracting, based at Hall Farm, Whepstead, near Bury St Edmunds, who is responsible for spraying up to 12,000 hectares a year.
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