Snyder Crop Services

Snyder crop services are based in Pennsylvania, United States, specialise in crop protection application, fertilizer application, sell liquid and dry fertilizer plus provide a crop consultancy service to customers too. We caught up with Ed Snyder from the firm to explore the company in more depth, and find out how they encountered crop sprayer manufacturers, Agrifac. 

“I have had my eyes on European sprayers for a number of years after seeing the functionality and capabilities that they have in comparison to other brands. Unfortunately, many of these technology options to assist growers with their crop protection have not been available in North America. It seems that European machines are more technologically advanced than the machines used over here,” explained Ed. 

“We had the opportunity to see an Agrifac machine first hand at the Agritechnica exhibition in Germany. I was really impressed: a lot of the functionalities that Agrifac offer is standard on their equipment. If we ever wanted that here, we would need to request it as an additional option!” 

“We looked at several European brands to compare them all, but what set Agrifac apart from the rest was their approach. Dealing directly with the end-user impressed me and made the experience a lot more personal. They’re ‘Brilliant Simple’ in their approach to what they can provide, and their technology and manufacturing that goes into their machines really proves that. Every decision or change that they make complies with the standards we need to meet, and it really makes it is a fantastic, intuitive machine.” 

“The main benefits of the Condor from my perspective are the circulation system and the individual nozzle section control. The size also impressed me. Agrifac can offer a large capacity sprayer in a smaller machine than what we are used to in North America which is really useful in terms of operations and minimal ground impact too.” 

“There is a lot about Agrifac that resonates with me when I compare how they work with my job as applying chemicals or fertilizer. I like the direction that Agrifac is going. I like the projects that Agrifac as a company are involved in. They are quite a few years ahead of the competition when it comes to precision agriculture, and it is not only electronics or GPS related. They have cracked the technology which allows growers to benefit from precise application. All their solutions are ‘Brilliant Simple’. As they move forward with their new ideas and projects, I can be confident that whatever solutions they will bring to the machine, it will work well and benefit me as an end-user.” 

Caleb Strausser, the sprayer operator for Snyder crop services commented on the machine: “The StabiloPlus chassis is a big stand-out benefit to me; it handles all kinds of tracks. It always keeps the tyres on the ground. By using the very easy track width adjustment we are still able to drive over four rows of 30-inch corn in the field. The short wheelbase in combination with the four-wheel steering makes it perfect for us. Travelling on the road is really nice too. The Condor is the fastest machine in our company and quite narrow and light compared to North American machines.” 

“A big advantage of the ClearancePlus machine is that we can have the high clearance over the crop when we really need it. Down the road and during spring we just have a conventional sprayer, but this element adds so much versatility to our business. We now have a longer spraying season because we can get into the crop at any growth stage knowing that we will have minimal damage to the crop.” 

“The EcoTronicPlus operations screen is very visual which makes it really easy to use the machine. It helps you to operate the machine quickly and you have all elements of the spraying operations at the touch of a button at arm’s length. In one glance you will see whether all valves are in the right position for example, and if you want to go in-depth with certain features, you can find out more information on one screen.”

“We have a 70/100/130 ft J-Boom on this sprayer. It has several folding widths which makes the machine even more flexible to differing operational needs, but we always have a large boom size. We have 15-inch nozzle spacing which we chose because we grow our corn in on 30-inch rows, so we have a nozzle in between each row for side dressing of the crop. We also have 103 individual nozzle sections, therefore enabling us to reduce application overlap.” 

“The circulation system is also new here in North America. We can start right away with spraying, knowing that the machine is always empty after each cleanout of the system. This helps us to save chemicals and it is a really simple cleanout as well which is a huge benefit and very convenient for us because we have a lot of small fields and use different mixes. We don’t have boom ends and valves, so the circulation system helps with that.” 

“With the regulation valve from Agrifac you are always spraying at a consistently perfect rate. You can go from 103 nozzles down to a couple and they are still spraying fine with the right application rate. If you need to change the rate at any time, the machine can change in little to no time at all which is fantastic.”

“The HighTechAir (HTA) technology really helps control the droplet size. For different chemicals and different weather conditions, we can control the droplet size easily. We don’t have to worry about the coverage of the crop, the computer will also add the right amount of air.” 

Speaking about the efficiency with fuel the Condor has been for the operations already, Ed commented, “The fuel economy is amazing; it is really efficient compared to other North American machines.” 

“A bunch of parts came with the machine delivery, I didn’t think that I needed anything more that wasn’t sent along, and there are still a lot of parts left over. The service is incredible, talking to the service people of Agrifac, we almost didn’t notice that they were dealing with us in another country and not over here! This is especially important when dealing with a company in a different time zone, but this hasn’t had any effect on the relationship or communications at all.” 

“Agrifac have also been over here a couple of times to check out the machine and listen to our experience so far. It really feels like Agrifac listens to their customers and ask them what they want to do. They come with solutions that are different and innovative; they want to come with solutions that cover the issues and not just patch or put a band aid on them as a temporary solution. The product itself is really good, but the people of Agrifac are that much better.”