Free mapping tool “invaluable” in challenging times

work done on individual farms, he adds.

Farmers Guide spoke to Harrison to nd out more.

Since rst trying out Land App back in 2017, it has proved very useful for CLM’s mapping needs. The Sussexbased land, business and property management consultancy mainly uses the free tool for mapping its farming clients’ Countryside Stewardship.

“One of the best features is the link it provides to clients’ Rural Payments data, so when it comes to doing BPS and Stewardship, it can pull across all the necessary information for making applications,” Harrison says. This makes the process faster and more accurate, and has helped to standardise the maps CLM uses.

More recently, Land App has incorporated lots of data sets into its data layer function, which is very useful for getting more information about the land, as well as new base map types such as UK Habitat

Classi cations. This has helped CLM with an increasing amount of ecology and habitat creation work.

The ease of collaboration is also bene cial. “Between colleagues it is useful as you can pull up the maps you are working on collaboratively and it saves any mapping changes made, as you go along. Various permissions and team functions allow you to select who can see the work if necessary, but to be able to share maps so easily is a very good feature.

“The capacity to share with clients is also very useful. Sending a link to a client to become an editor or viewer of the maps you are working on saves the need to go back and forth with emails and meetings, and can greatly speed up the process.”

Additionally, as part of a farmer cluster, it help to collate mapping

As with all technology, it takes a little time at rst to get used to the tools and learn your way around but “once you know how to import your RPA data and have a rough idea of the buttons around the side, you are pretty much there”, Harrison says. There are also useful guidance videos on the website, regular webinars and a chat function which is “very helpful”. A simple, free mapping tool will be a particular bene t for farms now, Harrison continues. As we enter a time of public schemes in the form of ELM, plus private schemes, farmers are required to provide lots of di erent data and evidence of actions being taken.

“Having a platform which has the functionality to represent all the information required by both farmers and the scheme managers, but also the simplicity to allow you to carry out many of the functions you would on a GIS system with minimal complexity – and which is mostly free to use – is invaluable.”

For more information, or to sign up for a free account, visit: www.thelandapp.com FG

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Cheshire contracting business N D Harper Ltd, provides a review of the new Case IH Puma 240 CVX, after 12 months of use.

Managing director Nigel Harper said it was a bold move to come away from a brand they knew and trusted. “Ashbrook o ered us an excellent deal on both the hire and the backup, which are vitally important when deciding how to up-scale our eet for the busiest months. It would have been a missed opportunity not to take it,” he commented.

“I’ve been really pleased with the fuel e ciency. In fact, we achieved a signi cant fuel saving with the new Case IH tractors versus our previous

John Deeres, which was very welcome as fuel prices were so volatile in the last growing season.”

Operator Jamie Taylor added: “The Puma 240 is the best tractor I’ve ever had on a plough. The power to size ratio is great, the CVX transmission is beautifully balanced and it’s really easy to match the speed to the job. It’s in nitely variable with the turn of a button. With our last tractor there was a big jump between B4 and C1, which was wearing after a long day in the seat. The top spec cab and ease of use mean I wouldn’t want to change again now.”

Contact Ashbrook Ltd for long- or short-term hire contracts. FG

Two recent installations at pig farms in East Anglia have given the farms more stable temperatures and the ability to seal up buildings in case of storms. The farms have also reported cleaner pigs with less respiratory problems and a lighter, airier environment for animals and stockpersons.

One project saw curtains tted to two pig sheds measuring 140ft long in North Norfolk, near Holt. The farm required a manual system to control the temperature and keep the elements at bay in winter. Manual curtain systems o er good control of the climate in the building at a more cost-e ective price, and they can be upgraded to a fully automated system at a later date, explains Tom Wright, managing director of Spring Farm Systems, which carried out the work.

The second project, at a farm near Stowmarket, Su olk, involved two 200ft-long sheds being tted with four 100ft curtains each. Each shed has four zones operated by a four-zone controller, each of which has its own temperature sensor, and a di erent temperature can be set. On bigger buildings, it’s vital to split the curtains to have more control over the ventilation due to variations within the building. This is most noticeable in spring; an easterly wind will often catch one corner of the building, causing variations of as much as 5ºC at the other end of the shed. FG