Although the fertiliser spreading season for chemical nitrogen and phosphorus has come and gone, visitors to the Teagasc exhibit at the National Ploughing Championships today, September 16 were given the opportunity to brush up on their fertiliser spreading skills.
Reporting from the Teagasc exhibit at the three-day event, Teagasc Drystock Advisor, John Kilboyle spoke to Gerard Griffin of Teagasc Education who put the simulator through its paces.
Gerard Griffin explained: “There are tractor driving simulators in each of the agriculture and horticultural colleges, used for safety training and, in this case, we are using it to demonstrate the precise application of fertiliser.”
Such a piece of kit allows students to not only learn how to operate the tractor, he added, but it allows for the intricacies of using a fertiliser spreader to be demonstrated and then understood in a classroom setting.
Both inside and outside the cab views are available, allowing students to get experience in following GPS systems but also allowing for the not easy to demonstrate impacts of border management, vane settings, spreading rate and flow rate etc to be visualised.
For more information, watch the brief video below:
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If attending the National Ploughing Championships, make sure and visit the Teagasc exhibit at Block 4 Row 13 Stand 267.
Find out more about Teagasc at the National Ploughing Championships 2025 here.
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