Surface Cultivator 2014 Winner of IMMA Award

Cousins’ Surface cultivator is a product of the ongoing ‘i-tillage’ programme with agronomists Hutchinsons. By cultivating the top 50mm of soil it has proven highly effective against black grass and won the IMMA innovation award for cultivation kit at Cereals 2014.

The International Manufacturer's Machinery Awards recognise the best new farm equipment on the market and aim to reward companies who have produced machines that show innovation, effectiveness and value.

Hutchinsons are well into a five year plan on their test farm and already have results to prove the cultivator’s pivotal role in their black grass strategy when used post-harvest and in the spring after beet lifting. It also aids herbicide retention and efficiency. The Surface cultivator incorporates a new tine and roller design which provokes weed germination for effective weed control with total herbicide prior to sowing the crop.

The tines work at a consistent shallow depth of 50mm with a precise level of control. The shallower working depth makes for very energy efficient cultivations, encouraging grass and broad leaved weed seed in the top layer of soil to germinate, leaving seeds at lower levels undisturbed.

Field trials confirm that the machine can provide ideal seedbed conditions for a range of cultivator drills, or an effective press in plough based systems and can be utilised as a highly effective roll after strip tillage drills.

A new model in the battle against black grass

Their agronomist and design partners Hutchinsons have completed a five year plan on their test farm and have results to prove Cousins’ Surface cultivator’s pivotal role in an effective black grass strategy. Cereals 2017 sees the launch of a new Surface Pro cultivator with a condensed frame but retaining the proven tine design which, in conjunction with Razor Rings, provokes weed germination for effective weed control with total herbicide prior to sowing the crop.