The South Australian farm engineering firm which took the harrow chain concept to a new level for weed control and seedbed preparation is expanding its US footprint, building a $3 million assembly plant in Missouri.
The 30-year-old Kelly Engineering business, recently rebadged as Kelly Tillage, is also making increasing inroads into Europe where farmers face pressure to restrict crop herbicide use and rethink aggressive soil management practices.
Kelly's overseas footprint growth is also being propelled by a helpful funding injection after Sydney private equity investor, Roc Partners, became a significant partner in the Kelly family enterprise last year.
More than 70 per cent of sales of Kelly Tillage's shallow cultivating disc chain diamond harrow units now go to overseas buyers.
In fact, the company has been flat out keeping up with demand growth.
The US market has been a steadily expanding winner in the past decade as Mississippi Delta and Midwest corn, rice, soybean and cereal croppers have adopted disc chains to help quickly break up and incorporate heavy crop residue and stubbles, initiating better soil microbial activity with minimal soil disturbance in the seed bed's top five centimetres, while also controlling weeds.
The design, which evolved from the early prickle chain concept of 40 years ago, has each chain on the cultivation rig's diamond configuration fitted with a crop- and soil-type-specific row of discs which rotate, cutting into the earth from different directions.
The assembly plant in US corn, soybean, cotton and rice growing heartland will be built in Springfield, Missouri, employing about 22 staff.
That's almost as many as Kelly has back at its Australian factory in the wheat belt, south east of Port Augusta, at Booleroo Centre (population 500).
All up, the company currently employs about 60 people at its Adelaide and Booleroo Centre addresses.
The new Springfield site, due to be in production by late 2023-24, will be Kelly's first assembly facility outside Australia, although the company is also setting up a spare parts dispatch facility in in Germany early next year.
For almost a decade, US orders for its disc chain harrow gear, ranging in width from four to 18 metres, have primarily been built under contract in America.
It also manufactures some units for the European market under contract in Germany.
Orders for Kelly's disc chain cultivators have blossomed, increasing four-fold since 2019.
Based on current US and European trends, the company expected a further 50pc overall growth in the next two years.
Other overseas markets are also on the move.
Last year Kelly signed a deal to supply its gear to the Case-IH and New Holland machinery giant, CNH, in Africa, where it has sold Australian-made systems in South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Kenya, Uganda and Sudan for 10 years.
"Our products appeal to the global macro trends around soil and farm inputs sustainability," said chief commercial officer, Tom Rayner
In total Kelly Tillage has sold disc chain harrows to more than 30 countries, but has core markets in about 15, including expanding opportunities in Argentina and Brazil where big scale corn, soybean and cereal areas offer significant promise.
"We know there's growing market acceptance and a lot of opportunity in places like South America, but we also want to be sure we can service them properly," Mr Rayner said.
"Of late we haven't been able to supply enough product to keep up with enquiry."
The recent funding injection from Asia-Pacific agribusiness investor, Roc Partners, would help finance the new northern hemisphere operations and research and engineering efforts back in Australia.
Roc Partners has been accumulating a diverse portfolio of farm investments from poultry to beef, glasshouse tomatoes and most recently the big Pace Farms egg business.
The exact size of Roc's ownership stake in, or funding commitment to, Kelly Tillage have not been disclosed.
While Australia itself was a more mature market, Mr Rayner said it was steadily growing, too.
Traditionally the unique diamond design of the disc chain harrow appealed as a cost effective way to rehabilitate rough paddocks, manage crop residue, help retain moisture and control emerging weeds in a single pass.
"We now see similar opportunities in viticulture, helping weed and soil moisture management between grape vines and in permanent tree crop plantings," he said.
"There's definitely been some take up in the almond industry already, and I think we'll be advancing those options further."
"Overall there will be ups and downs with seasonal conditions and other factors, but the current pattern of strong demand growth is expected to continue."
Andrew Marshall
Andrew Marshall is the group agribusiness writer for ACM's state agricultural weeklies and websites. He is a former editor at The Land and has worked in various Rural Press group roles in Canberra, North Richmond (NSW) and Toowoomba (Qld).
Andrew Marshall is the group agribusiness writer for ACM's state agricultural weeklies and websites. He is a former editor at The Land and has worked in various Rural Press group roles in Canberra, North Richmond (NSW) and Toowoomba (Qld).
