- The GrindStar® developed by SAPHIR has been recognised as a pioneering innovation and awarded a silver medal by the Agritechnica Awards panel
The DLG AGRITECHNICA Innovation Award is one of the leading awards in the international agriculture industry. It honours practical innovations and underlines the relevance of modern agricultural technology.
To be able to conserve the groundwater as far as possible and put it to optimum use for the germination of volunteer cereals, weed seeds or a subsequent intercrop in the first operation after harvesting, stubble tillage should be as shallow as possible.
The GrindStar from Saphir solves this problem with passively rotating rotors that till the soil ultra-flat (up to 2 cm). The individual rotors have a diameter of 75 cm, of which half of the circumference is constantly engaged in the ground with the angled tools.
Each rotor is guided in a parallelogram, enabling significantly more favourable adjustment to the surface of the soil compared to other concepts for ultra-flat tillage. The passively rotating tools release fine earth and cover volunteer seeds, they remove earth from stubble and condition harvesting residues so that they quickly start to decompose.
Other comparable concepts (e.g. harrows) operate either less intensively or deeper (large spring tine harrows or compact disc harrows) in order to release the stubble. The GrindStar’s very favourable tractive power requirements of around 20 kW/m working width during processing are similar to those of a harrow, but the machine achieves the intensity of harvesting residue conditioning familiar from a mulcher.
The GrindStar therefore brings together the advantages of mulchers and harrows in its significant further development of a familiar process. As a result, the process is vastly improved on the whole, with major benefits for work quality and cost effectiveness in practice.
With the GrindStar®, SAPHIR is presenting a world first at Agritechnica. The system was designed in cooperation with the Institute for Construction and Agricultural Machinery Technology at the Cologne University of Applied Sciences and design partner seed2soil GmbH & Co. KG for full-surface, ultra-flat stubble cultivation as part of the post-harvest management process.
The project was funded by Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank – Germany’s development agency for agribusiness and rural areas – for a period of three years.
The granting of a patent confirms the technical progress and innovative character of the GrindStar®.
SAPHIR will present the GrindStar® system for the first time at Agritechnica 2023. Further innovations from SAPHIR from the areas of grassland maintenance technology, silage technology and municipal technology will also be presented in Hall 27 at Stand E05.
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