C-Suite: New Opportunity In Application
With a newly created role at Salford Group, David Webster joined the company after years at AGCO and will execute a strategic vision for continued growth in commercial application. This means tying together product development, quality, manufacturing, distribution and partners.
As a previous competitor, what did you think of Salford?
I, of course, knew the company and some of its team. But what has surprised me the most since joining is Salford’s ability to adjust and adapt to customers’ needs and be nimble. And the quality of Salford is just as robust in its program as any OEM.
How will you spend most of your time in this new role?
As director of commercial application, I’m focused on the chassis-mounted application business. We have air booms going on multiple OEM chassis, a majority of which are installed by dealers. So I’ll be tying it together in working with product development, product quality and manufacturing as we look at the products our customers need in the future and continue to build on the quality of the product being delivered.
What’s Salford’s greatest advantage in the market?
It is focus and speed to market. Those go hand in hand. We have a couple of product categories that we have great expertise in, and it shows.
What’s the company’s greatest opportunity in 2022?
As we look at dry fertilizer application, and even dry crop protection products, we are going to continue to see a trend to more micromanagement—whether that is split rates of nutrients or putting on crop protection products with micronutrient bins. In the battle against chemical-resistant weeds, some things that were old are new again.
What do you want ag retailers to know about Salford?
We’re seeing more systems put on floaters and row crop chassis. The row crop models offer an opportunity to improve machine utilization by extending the services you can offer and the seasons you can operate.
An air boom machine takes some risk out of application. With spinner spreaders, you can still get the job done, but you have to be aware of changes in product quality. We are seeing customers request an air boom application. For example, in the Delta region, producers are experiencing P and K deficiencies. After four or five years of applying on the same guidance lines with spinner spreaders, deficiencies on the outside of the pattern are starting to show up. That can be avoided with the proper setup.
