Defender Pro XT utility task vehicle (Can-Am)
“We’re transferring from traditional pickup trucks to these UTVs for a multitude of reasons. One, with the muddy conditions, we are constantly pulling trucks out of fields. This alleviates that. These are a lot easier to maneuver, especially when you have help that isn’t used to driving trucks. With this particular model, we can bring in 35 5-gallon buckets of tomatoes in one trip. That pretty much rivals a pickup truck. It has a great capacity and quite frankly just makes work a lot more enjoyable and productive. Can-Am is really the only one that offers this size body.”
Can-am.brp.com
G35-170 Stone Burier (Forigo)
“We worked with NRCS to see and develop a reduced tillage practice while using plastic mulch. We zoomed in on this product because it was more or less a single pass to till the soil, prep the bed, and lay the plastic mulch. What we found after using it awhile is that it’s a little bit finicky at first. But once you get it dialed in, it works extremely well for lower cover crops. If it’s high residue, it’s a challenge. But when it’s a lower-residue cover crop, whether you mow it or not, it works phenomenally. It has increased how quickly we can get a field prepped. We have a lot of stones, so traditionally it’s saving right around four steps – we would have to till, then have to level that, pick that, then level again, and then lay our plastic. By the time you’re done, the soil is talcum powder. With this, you’re actually keeping the moisture in the soil. And you’re getting it done quicker because we all know the weather changes in 2 seconds.”
Forigo.it
TL16 Shredder/Flail Mower (Forigo)
“We’ve had flail mowers in the past, and we’re constantly breaking hammers and constantly having the roller bend. Various things. They take abuse; that’s just the nature of the best. This one here is the absolute heaviest one I’ve ever come across. Their hammer design is far superior to anyone else I’ve seen on the market. I’ve had this particular unit for almost four years, and I’ve broken one hammer in all that time, and we have a tremendous amount of rocks. We chop a lot of or corn – high-residue stuff – and it doesn’t skip a beaet. You cruise right through it.”
Forigo.it
Whole-farm filtration system with automatic backwashing (Toro)
“On our farm we traditionally pull from one water source, and we have to have filters all over the farm because we do a lot with drip. With this unit we are actually centralized now. We don’t need those filters all throughout the farm that we have to remember to backfill and everything else. This system keeps track of the gallonage and the pressures, so it knows when it needs to backfill. It’s mindless. Volume is great; we didn’t see any drop-off. Really an absolute weight lifted off your shoulders.”
Toro.com/en/irrigation
520 Cultivating Tractor (Tilmor)
“We were using an Allis Chalmers [Model] G for most of our tillage stuff. The Tilmor is very similar to the Allis Chalmers G, but what we found is that it’s way more comfortable. You can actually sit on it. Tilmor is terrific to work with. They have all kinds of implements. They really are responsive to maybe some critiques you have, one of them being that we thought changing the oil filter was a hair hard, so they actually went in and changed some paneling to make it easier. We bought it with the Kubota diesel motor. It works great. It’s a powerhouse. It’s got plenty of remotes: an extra set of hydraulic remotes in the front and an extra set in the back. Very versatile tool. We use a basket weeder, traditional cultivation, finger weeders, and we put on a Gandy side dresser. I can’t say enough good things about it.”
Tilmor.com/en-us/
5612 No-Till Drill (Esch)
“Everybody is making no-till drills, but what made me zoom in on the Esch is the spacing is a little closer than most of the others. I believe it’s 5½-inch spacing instead of 7-and-change spacing. Your cover crop comes in nice and full. But the biggest thing is that this is a 12-foot-wide drill that hydraulicly narrows itself to 8 feet wide for road travel. Like most farms, we have lots of land all over the place. So we are driving on the road, and this piece of equipment makes it safe to use. We found that to be a gamechanger as far as equipment travel.”
Eschdrills.com
Comprised of 125 acres, Davidian’s Farm Market in Northborough, MA, supplies vegetables, predominantly tomatoes, to most of the Whole Foods stores in the Greater Boston area as well as other grocery chains throughout New England. Owner Mike Davidian also grows peppers, zucchini, and summer squash on plastic mulch and drip irrigation and sweet corn on overhead irrigation. His favored pieces of equipment are varied, but the end goal with each is one in the same — make life easier. Check out some favorite equipment pieces at Davidian’s Farm Market in the photo slideshow below.
Click here to see more installments of American Vegetable Grower’s “Kick the Tires” series.