Our quarterly dealer update includes big changes for Chandlers, expanded territories for several Merlo dealers and more consolidation of John Deere’s distribution network.

Chandlers extends JCB and Claydon territory

Chandlers Farm Equipment is to extend its newly acquired JCB franchise into the Cotswolds from the beginning of December and will invest in a JCB depot at Cirencester in Gloucestershire.

The move follows the merger of JCB dealer Ross Farm Machinery (RFM) into the Chandlers group, effective February 2023, with the new Chandlers RFM JCB operation continuing to work out of existing branches at Raglan for Monmouthshire, Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire, and Martley in Worcestershire.

See also: Revealed: Britain’s biggest farm machinery dealers

The Martley and new Cirencester depots will become specialist hubs for Fastrac, Loadall, TM, wheeled loader and other agricultural materials handling products.

Until the end of November, Cotswold Farm Machinery will continue to provide sales, parts, service and repairs from Fosse Cross, and the change of distribution arrangements will have no impact on JCB dealers neighbouring the Cotswolds territory or elsewhere.

Chandlers’ merger with RFM has also gained it the Claydon franchise at three of its westerly premises, at Bristol, Devizes and Cirencester.

Merlo and Lister Wilder join forces

Chandlers’ deal with JCB has had a knock-on effect for Lister Wilder, whose Agco business it acquired in 2020.

It will now sell and service Merlo’s full range of products, including telehandlers, Cingo tracked carriers, TreEmme attachments and forestry tractors, across a significantly widened territory from Bristol eastwards to Windsor through depots in Bristol, Cirencester and Reading.

Prior to the change, Lister Wilder has offered Merlo machinery to farmers in Kent and the eastern portion of East Sussex through its Ashford branch.

Following the termination of its agreement with HRN, Merlo has also announced changes to its network in Scotland.

This includes the addition of Fife-based J Low Agri Services and an expansion of Ross Agri Services’ territory, partly through the launch of a RAS Plant Sales division.

This will operate from existing St Cyrus and Turriff depots and a newly acquired site at Muir of Ord, as it adds Merlo’s construction products to its offering.

John Deere streamlines Northern Irish network

John Deere’s agricultural and sports turf machinery will now be available through a single, larger dealer in the counties of Antrim, Derry/Londonderry, Armagh and Down, after Stephen W Moore agreed a deal to acquire Johnston Gilpin & Co.

Both Coleraine and Lisburn branches will continue trading from the current locations, and the latter will remain under the Johnston Gilpin name.

Grange pens P&B deal

Grange Machinery’s low-disturbance toolbars and standalone looseners are to be sold by Peacock & Binnington (P&B) in the north of Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire through its outlets at Brigg, Corringham, Halsham, Selby and Kirby Misperton.

MT Engineering to offer Keenan wagon parts

Marcus Tucker has taken on the fabrication and supply of diet feeder parts from Keith Andrews’ Evesham-based GK Andrews business.

MT Engineering will offer re-lining plates and other Keenan wearing parts such as door latches, feed-out trays and end plates, country-wide from its base near Exeter.

TH White’s DeLaval coverage widened

TH White’s dairy division has taken over Norfolk business Taylor IMS, meaning its DeLaval distribution agreement now stretches from Wales to the Norfolk coast.

It will offer installation, parts, servicing and support for conventional and robotic parlours from the new Attleborough site alongside existing depots in Frome, Somerset, and Huntley, Gloucestershire.

AgVantage takes on Holaras

Peterborough-based AgVantage UK is to import the full range of equipment from Dutch maker Holaras, including its silage packers, onion haulm toppers and windrowers, beet buckets, slurry mixers and scrapers, and the linkage-mounted weighing system.

AgVantage already has agreements with Dewulf, Dezeure and Dammann, as it looks to gain a firmer footing in the root crop sector and widen its offerings in biogas and silage.

Schaffer appoints H Fulton Tractors

H Fulton Tractors is now the exclusive importer of Schaffer’s wheeled loaders and telehandlers across the UK and Ireland, having previously focused on its home markets.

It will work with the existing 15 dealers across England, Scotland and Wales to sell and service Schaffer’s range of machinery, from compact models up to its biggest pivot-steer telescopic loader.

Crawfords bags Opico deal

Agco dealer Crawfords will sell Opico’s grain dryers, mechanical weeders and arable and grassland equipment, plus machinery from brands for which it is a UK importer.

These include He-Va cultivation and grassland implements, Sky drills (Agwoods depot only) and Strautmann forage and feeding wagons.

The Essex-based dealer now has seven branches, having extended its reach into Kent, Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire.

Tuckwells and Yamaha extend partnership

The full Yamaha offering is now available from Tuckwells’ Framfield branch in East Sussex, meaning it now has three dedicated Yamaha showrooms providing the brand’s full utility and leisure range of ATVs and UTVs, plus the electric UMX.

New Suffolk dealer for Corvus

Boss ORV has appointed Marst Agri, based in Layham, Suffolk, to sell Corvus UTVs. The outfit has specialised in Merlo telehandlers since it was established in 2017.

Unimog heads north

AM Agri is to sell and service Mercedes-Benz Unimogs from its depots in Forfar and Aberdeen and has plans to open a third, southerly location in the next year, which is earmarked as a specialist Unimog hub.

The dealer joins three other new names authorised to provide maintenance, repair and parts backup for the brand: Blackburn’s Ciceley Commercials, Ferndown Commercials of Wimborne, Dorset, and Rossetts Commercials in Aldershot, Hampshire.

Amazone offers rust guarantee

Buyers of new ZA-V and ZA-TS mounted fertiliser spreaders, and the ZG-TS bulk version, can get a seven-year rust penetration guarantee free of charge through Amazone’s myAmazone digital customer portal.

20 years of Claas tractors

Claas is celebrating 20 years since its acquisition of a majority stake in Renault Agriculture.

Since then, it has invested more than €80m (£70m) in its production facilities at Le Mans, where it now manufactures more than 60 different tractor models ranging from 75 to 455hp.

The 200,000th Claas tractor is scheduled to roll off the production line later this year.

Kuhn expands Baler Centres

Kuhn has added three specialist Baler Centres to its dealer network this year, at Rea Valley Tractors, RSM Beares and Malpas Tractors, bringing the total to 14.

Other Kuhn baler specialists include Guy Machinery (Lancs), Johnston Tractors (Cumbria/Dumfries and Galloway), Hardwick Agricultural Engineering (North Yorks), Robert Davies Machinery (Shrops), Collings Brothers (Cambs), Malpas Tractors (Cheshire) and Oliver Landpower (Essex/Warks).