Logistics Director Jens Toft and Transport Manager Jan Erik Frønsdal Toft explain why cranes have become an essential tool in modern agriculture. 

"Much of our stock is on the move every day in trucks. If a truck-mounted crane breaks down, it affects our deliveries to the farmer, regional logistics depots and our entire logistics chain. There is also an impact on the health of the livestock caused by the delays of the materials and food, which must be avoided," says Jan Erik Frønsdal Toft, Transport Manager at Danish Agro. 

He's visiting HMF Group's head office in Denmark with his manager, Logistics Director Jens Toft. 

"Our new HMF loader cranes help us meet our obligations and deliver what we have promised the farmers — on time," says Jens Toft. 

Together with Danish Agro's team of drivers and co-ordinators, the two managers handle the timely delivery of Big Bags, fertilizers and seed to farmers in Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea region.  

For this purpose, Danish Agro has built up its own fleet of loader cranes. Most recently, the group has acquired three new HMF 2820 cranes that are particularly suitable for grab work and pallet lifting.  

Focus on efficiency and optimisation

Especially during the past 10 years, using truck cranes to load Big Bags and grains has become a widespread practice in agriculture. Danish Agro has gone from delivering animal feed in small sacks to loading and unloading so-called ‘Big Bags’ — large sacks weighing 500-750 kg each. 

"Farms have become bigger in Northern Europe — both in terms of acres and when it comes to the size of the livestock. Bigger farms call for bigger deliveries," says Jens Toft. 

"The increased focus on efficiency and optimisation in agriculture has made downtime on a crane pure poison," Jan Erik Frønsdal Toft adds. "Once a customer has ordered Big Bags for delivery on Wednesday at noon, he expects us to arrive Wednesday at noon because this is when he needs it." 

Jens Toft agrees adding: 

"We're very limited by driving and rest period regulations. If a driver is at a stand-still, we can't catch up with the time wasted like we could in the past, when it was allowed to drive at 2 o'clock at night. We also experience that our customers are more focused on ‘on time delivery’ today. Therefore, reliable cranes and service from HMF help make sure that we provide timely service to our customers."