| 65 PROUDLY ASSOCIATED WITH RURAL AIR WORK Flying farmers have right fert solution Rural Air Work loading a Cresco ll. Rachel Graham With the help of Hawke’s Bay topdressing company, Rural Air Work Limited, farmers can know they are getting precisely the fertiliser they need in the areas where it will bene t the most. And everything is handily recorded so farmers can easily keep up with government requirements. Rural Air Work is operated by Hawke’s Bay farmers, Josh and Suzie Calder. Josh has been a topdressing pilot for over twenty years, and this year it will be ten years since the couple started Rural Air Work. Rural Air Work is an owner-operator family run company, and as farmers themselves they know what farmers need, and their sole focus is to help farmers make the most of their land. The couple’s farm is in Otane in Hawke’s Bay, and Rural Air Work Ltd offers its services right across the wider Hawkes Bay area. The company employs two other pilots in addition to Josh, along with a number of ground crew to get the job done. They now operate four planes - two Crescos, a 750 XL, and a Fletcher. The distinctive pink Crescos and blue/yellow PAC XL are both capable of two tonne payloads, so they can accommodate any aerial spreading requests in a cost-effective way. Rural Air Work has also made big investments into technology to enable them to offer Smart Gate, a computer controlled variable and consistent rate spreading and Mapping software. The variable rate technology means they can programme in different Fert rates for different slopes. The automated system opens and closes the plane’s doors depending on the degree of slope RURAL SERVICES » Rural Air Work and aircraft groundspeed. The company also uses TracMap a precision farming GPS guidance and job management system developed by a Dunedin based company. Using farm maps and the TracMap system the pilot has the exact area to be fertilised up on their screen in the aircraft, with boundaries and sensitive areas, such as waterways, excluded. These two technologies also make providing Customisable with TML-A Lightbar hazard warnings Rotor or Fixed-wing aircraft Easy to install Brightness adjustable Angle of intercept lights Upgrade your AERIAL Application New Internal Lightbar Talk to our team today 219mm 47mm 22mm deep NEVILLE EARTHWORKS IS PROUD TO HAVE WORKED WITH RURAL AIR WORK LTD • Cat 627g • Cat D8T x2, D6T • Cat 730 C2 • Cat 56S x2 • Cat 336 x2 • Cat 330 • Cat 323 • Cat 12M Forestry Roading the necessary information for the farm’s environment plan or other local or central government requirements straightforward too. “A farmer can supply us with their basic map, and we can nd out how many degrees a slope is on their farm,” says Josh. “And then we can select the appropriate rate of fertiliser for it, and put in those excluded sensitive areas, and ensure the fertiliser is only going where it is wanted and needed. And that information is what farmers need when submitting information for their farm environment plan. So, it’s all there.” Suzie Calder says Rural Air Work haveregular clients who they have built up a great relationship with. “We’ve got a really good set of clients. Most of them go on a regular cycle around the same time, whether it’s autumn or spring. We’re quite lucky there. “ We obviously do a good job because they are loyal to us, and we’ve been working with them for years.” She says as local farmers themselves Rural Air Work is always striving to provide a safe, professional, and high-quality service for their customers, and they are always looking for ways to introduce new improvements to their operation.
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