Farmers were surprised to get a first glimpse of the new Mazzotti self-propelled sprayer range following John Deere’s purchase of the Italian manufacturer in 2017. Back then, JD said it had no plans to sell the yellow machines in the UK.

However, the about-turn was perhaps inevitable, given that Deere’s self-propelled sprayer range doesn’t cover the popular 3,000-litre, 24m front-cabbed sector. So, rather than build its own machine, it has offered the Mazzotti brand to all UK Deere dealers.

Six of them have taken the option so far, with JD technicians trained on the new kit.

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The 3180 sprayer on the stand at Cereals was a 3,200-litre model with optional 24m stainless steel boom. A 125hp Deere engine provides the grunt to 50kph Poclain wheel motors with internal disc brakes.

Keen-eyed punters will have spotted the well-known Claas cab at the front of the machine, offering a clean-cut operator environment.

The Arag Selectron is employed as the rate controller and Deere has added its 4640 screen to manage all spraying and GPS functions.

The machine on show was carrying two pumps – one fast-fill 600-litres/min unit at the rear for liquid fertiliser work, and a second 330-litres/min piston diaphragm setup that handles all the spraying and standard filling jobs.

Luxuries such as hydraulic lowering of the induction hopper and an external Arag Visio terminal to control the filling functions are included, too.

Deere says Mazzotti is geared up to build bespoke sprayers to suit different budgets and workload. For instance, hydraulic or manual track width adjustment is available between 1.8m and 2.2m centres for vegetable growers, as is single nozzle shut-off.

The full Mazzotti range will be on offer to UK growers, including the huge 6,000-litre model, but Deere believes the smaller machines will be most popular.

Buyers should expect to pay about £165,000 as a realistic on-farm price for a good-spec machine.

John Deere is adamant there is still a strong demand for its mid-cabbed machines and will continue to sell these alongside the new yellow sprayers.

The firm was also clear that the two brands will remain separate and we won’t see Mazzotti machines painted green anytime soon.