As tractors and trailed equipment grow heavier, so too do problems arising from soil compaction below ploughing depth. There is, therefore, growing interest in the use of gantries straddling a wide bed. So far they have shown particular promise in horticulture, especially with crops such as cauliflowers where repeated selective harvesting is necessary. For cereal production there are still technical problems to be solved but there is an attractive possibility of greatly reduced energy requirement.
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