Trip to Oxbo Factory, Netherlands

Every couple of years, when it's time for us to buy a new harvester, we take a trip to the Netherlands to try out and purchase our latest bit of machinery.

We have three harvesters at any one time, replacing one every two years. We take this very seriously; after all, each harvester needs to last us six years, so we need to get the best bit of kit for the job.

The journey begins with an early morning train to London, followed by a trip on the Eurostar to Brussels and a short hop over the border to Roosendaal in the very south of the Netherlands. Our destination is the factory and facilities of Oxbo (formerly Ploeger), a specialised provider of harvesting technology with over 60 years of experience.

The first few hours are spent walking around the factory, getting a chance to see how the machines are put together and then to try them out. The training provided by the team at Oxbo is excellent and their state of the art facility makes it an enjoyable and productive learning experience. 

Sometimes we also get the chance to speak to other groups from other parts of Europe, and it’s fascinating to share experiences with them. It’s an intensive couple of days, but well worth the trip, and the benefits are really seen when we are harvesting in the season and our drivers are putting their training to good use.