At last year’s Belgian Interpom potato show director Bram Wijnen of Dutch engineering-firm Wijnen Machines spoke of plans to develop a high-capacity self-propelled eight-row potato planter. True to his word, the prototype has just finished its first hectares. Van Wijnen is the European importer for the British-built Lite-Trac SS2400, and this 260hp tool carrier forms the basis of the eight-row planter. The Dutch company developed the planter’s frame, while the planting elements come from Belgian company AVR. The front-mounted cab provides the space to fit the 7-tonne capacity hopper, and with the potato planter removed, the Dutch company will spend the rest of this year evaluating other equipment, including using it as a self-propelled cereal drill, fertiliser spreader, muck spreader, sprayer and even fit it with a high-tipping trailer body. The goal is to develop a machine that can be used for around 1,500 hours a year. Aimed at large farms and contractors, the first commercial units of the self-propelled potato planter, the empty weight of which is 11.5 tonnes, are expected to be available for next season. By Steven Vale