The Farming Year Europe: Farm Machinery through the Seasons, Part 1 Spring

DVD PAL

Presented by Stephen Richmond, this is the first in a series of programmes showing farm machinery at work through the seasons in Europe with action from Germany, Belgium, France and Holland, Part One focuses on the busy spring period from the beginning of March to the end of May.

With cultivation work in full swing together with the planting of a whole variety of crops including barley, oats, sugar beet, potatoes, flower bulbs, maize, carrots, lettuce and chives, the programme also features spraying, fertilising and hoeing as the crops start to grow.

Other highlights include spinach harvesting and the beginning of the first cut silage harvest plus some very large slurry spreading and application machinery. From the latest sophisticated machinery to classic tractors and implements of the 1970s and 80s still at work, this is a unique record of agriculture in Europe in the 21st century.

A whole host of tractors are shown at work including John Deere, Claas, New Holland, Fendt, Eicher, Deutz Fahr, Steyr, Case IH, Challenger and Renault as well as self-propelled machines from Claas, John Deere, Ploeger, Krone, Verveat and Challenger.

Filmed by cameraman and farm machinery enthusiast Sascha Jussen especially for this series of programmes, The Farming Year will transport you into a familiar but also surprising world where modern tractors mingle with as-new classics and where roof mounted bulb planters, toolcarriers and tricycle tractor conversions make this programme a must for anyone interested in farm machinery and agriculture in general.

• Running time 120 mins
• PAL DVD, Region 2