The appointment of Luke Barnard as precision farming specialist, in addition to his role as area service manager for all of Ireland, strengthens the support available to dealers supplying Landini and McCormick tractors throughout the UK and Ireland.
Luke (27) joined the Argo Tractors operation with several years of technical experience working in machinery dealerships to add to his National Diploma in Land-Based Technologies gained with triple distinctions from Riseholme College in Lincolnshire where he lives.
“I’m loving the job,” he says. “It involves a lot of travel, especially to our dealers in Ireland and to the Argo Tractors factories in northern Italy for detailed technical training, but it’s nice to wake up looking forward to going to work.”
Argo Tractors, one of the World’s leading companies that designs and manufactures tractors for farming, commercial horticulture and other rural enterprises, has a global partnership with Topcon Agriculture for precision farming technologies.
Any Argo-built tractor can be equipped for guidance with a controller and AES-15 steering wheel drive unit, and larger models can be ordered from the factory guidance-ready with the electronics infrastructure already in place.
Topcon AGI-4 receivers and the X25 and X35 displays can then be installed by national specialist distributors – LH Agro in England, Scotland and Wales, and Topcon’s own operations in Ireland.
Adrian Winnett, managing director of Argo Tractors operations in the UK and Ireland, says dealer service technicians are encouraged to keep up to date with the technical make-up and features of the products so they can maintain and repair them as quickly and efficiently as possible in support of customers.
“It’s important for dealers to have this independent capability but it’s also essential that we have the resources to support our dealers in that goal, through effective technical bulletins and face-to-face training.
“Luke joined us to perform that role throughout Ireland alongside the technical staff who support our growing network of dealers in Great Britain, but his past experience with precision farming technologies means he also brings important knowledge on this increasingly important aspect of tractor operation to our business.”
