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Agrifac Condor Endurance smashes world record for precise spraying (VIDEO)
Once again, the Agrifac Condor Endurance proves to be a capacity monster. Two amazing new World Records are set! On March 2, at the farm of Karolyn, Tony and Brendan Mason, 21 miles east of Perenjori in Western Australia, the Condor Endurance completed 2,638 ha (6,515.86 acres) of summer spraying in nonstop 24 hours. That’s an average of almost 110 ha (271 acres) per hour! There even has been one hour in which the machine sprayed 150,7 ha (372,4), a second world record.
The Mason's own a 51 meter (167 ft) Condor Endurance. They are right at the edge of the Midwest region with nothing but bush and salt lakes beyond them. “We very much appreciate their kindness in supporting such an event. The Mason farm is a very efficient operation, yet few people at this time of year would allow spraying during the day with high temperatures. For the plants that they are targeting (early growth stages, predominately small plants) they have always achieved good results even at 104°F and low water rates. Initially we were going to use 5,2 gallon/acre but Tony and Brendan decided to drop back to 4,1 gallons/acre with the added benefit of the HighTechAirPlus (HTA) and conditions on the day” says Mark Slater, who runs the Agrifac business in Australia. He emphasizes that water is scarce in the area with very low rainfall (annual rainfall 270mm).
Agrifac did little preparation leading up to the event. The demonstrator 48 meter HTA Condor Endurance was close by a week before and after a few phone calls, it was all set for this week. The timing was right and the Mason’s were keen to support us in setting a new world record for 24hr spraying. The target was to beat the previous record of 2550 acres.
Last Wednesday morning Mark and his brother Ben set off from Perth at 3 am to arrive at the Mason's before 7.30 am. Mark prepared the machine while Ben started mapping the boundaries of the fields before a quick team briefing. To make it official they invited Jim Gilmour, a local JP to adjudicate the record. The role of a justice of the peace (JP) in Australia is to act as an independent and objective witness at official and legal issues. Jim was delighted to be involved. Jim dropped his arm to start the clock at exactly 12 pm on the 1st of March 2017. By 12 am (in 12 hrs) they had done 3,400 acres.
The record is even more special when we take into account that the fields were not all smooth going and regular shaped. Mark states: “We had a bit of everything from trees, power poles, tight corners, gradual slopes and some bumps too. We wanted to make it as real as possible! In total there were 15 fields with a 10-minute drive between the two blocks. I did drive into the wrong field in the middle of the night which cost us a little time!”
