Lukáš Janko, a private farmer, completed his studies at the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague in 2008, and he has been keeping the family farming tradition at the large estate in Vysoká Libyň, Plzeň – sever, since 2012. The original area of the farm was about 100 hectares in 1991 and it has been expanded to the current area of over 320 hectares through gradual development, mostly thanks to successful farming. The farm mostly benefits from plant production, namely winter oil seed rape, food wheat, fodder and malting barley, oats and peas. The farm exclusively uses conventional technology.
Until recently, the main machines used at the farm were a reversible plough and a seeding combination with rotary harrows. In 2017, Mr. Janko purchased a new soil processing machine, which was not, as one would have guessed, the Kompaktomat seedbed cultivator. Mr. Janko acquired a much more universal machine for his conditions and to match the selected technology: the Softer disc cultivator with the width of 6 m, semi-mounted version, equipped with tracing wheels.
Mr. Janko explains his choice: “Yes, we also tested Kompaktomat here and it perfectly fulfilled the task of precise seedbed preparation after tillage, but since we use the rotary harrows, we didn’t need to have a perfectly prepared seedbed. With Softer, we perform quick and effective shallow stubble ploughing and the machine fulfils the task of the disc cultivator at 100%. But what made us decide for this machine was the option of seedbed preparation where the discs process deep furrows very well, cut the clods, while the rear roller sufficiently compacts soil. That allows us to drive much faster with our seeding combination, thus shortening the time of soil and seeding preparation.” We are pleased that Mr. Janko appreciates the reliability, low maintenance costs and easy control of Softer.
