A young engineer is returning to his farming roots by taking on the role of sales and service dealer for Landini tractors in Lancashire.
Stewart Morley has operated from premises on the family farm at Pilling on the Fylde near Blackpool for the past 10 years supplying mainly professional groundscare equipment. But he jumped at the chance to expand into the agricultural market with the Landini tractor range.
"It’s ideal for us because in addition to a good choice of smaller models for professional groundscare applications, the full-size tractors cater for all the different types of farming we see in the area," he points out.
Stewart Morley Agricultural & Groundscare Machinery represents Landini tractor distributor AgriArgo UK in a territory that extends from Skelmersdale and Bolton northwards to Lancaster, and from the coast to Rochdale and Barnoldswick.
The business was founded on the principal that professional tractor users need prompt and expert back-up for routine servicing, replacement parts and quick repairs if anything goes wrong.
"My background is farming but I was attracted to the workshop and started out repairing and servicing cars and commercial vehicles, before moving into groundscare equipment," Stewart explains. "Over the years I’ve built up a lot of experience with modern methods of parts management and diagnostic tools; that will help us look after the existing population of Landini tractors in the area, as well as any new ones we supply."
Stewart has been supported in the workshop for the past three years by David Parkinson, a full-time technician from another local farming family, who worked on Landini tractors during his apprenticeship with the previous agent.
"I’ve found that everyone who has Landini tractors likes them," says David. "When we visited the factory in Italy, I was very impressed by the amount of components that are made in-house rather than just bought-in, and it was a very professional, clean and tidy operation."
David helps raise the profile of Landini tractors in the area by displaying Stewart Morley’s demonstrator tractor at the Brockholes and Lancaster weekly marts. But Stewart would like to recruit an experienced salesman to help local farmers and growers choose the best Landini model and specification for their requirements.
"It’s such a comprehensive range, the Landini line-up caters for everything from the beef and sheep farms of the Fylde and the upland areas of the county to the vegetable growing operations on the Black Moss to the south," he says.
"The new Landini 1 Series compacts make ideal groundscare and farm scraper tractors," Stewart adds, "while the 70-110hp Powerfarm and 5-H Series are good general-purpose machines.
"Then there’s the more sophisticated 100-120hp Powermondial and 117-225hp six-cylinder Landpower and 7 Series tractors for large-scale grassland and arable use," he points out.
For fruit and vegetable growers, the Rex is one of Britain’s most popular orchard tractors, while the Powerfarm HC has extra high clearance to work in ridge-planted crops.
"The Landini products have a lot to offer," says Stewart. "We’ll be doing our best to give people who use them the best back-up service and parts support."
