Article written by Novag Sas
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Founded as a start-up in 2011, Novag SAS has developed into a no-till technology specialist and is successful in more than 20 countries, in and outside Europe. The company founders, Antoine Bertin and Ramzi Frikha, met each other for the first time in New Zealand and started the company from the ground up, based on the idea that no-till farmers needed better machinery for reliable crop establishment. We built our prototypes in a rented farm shed in the early years. Since then, Novag has become a serious player and produces advanced machines in its Fressines, western France assembly factory. In 2022, we founded our first subsidiary, Novag GmbH (Ltd), for European Sales and Services. Novag currently employs 35 people in France and Germany. Our product range contains innovative sowing technology for modern arable farming systems such as ‘Conservation Agriculture’ with no soil tillage, permanent organic soil cover and broad crop rotation.
We offer working widths from 1.5 to 10 metres to provide the right machine for every farmer, all with our world-renowned coulter system, which combines the advantages of a disc machine with those of a tine machine, without the disadvantages of each. In addition, it is possible to work with up to four product hoppers. With the four fully integrated hoppers, the farmer has maximum flexibility when sowing all types of crops.
The T-SlotPlus coulter system comprises a large vertically operating cutting disc (576 mm) with two separate sowing boots. This inverted-T concept derives from research that started 40 years ago in New Zealand and made its way into many farms in the UK. The cutting disc cuts the green material or stubble to “open up” the soil. The sowing boot clears the seed furrows and places either seed or fertiliser to the right and left of the cutting disc and above its working depth. The cutting disc pulls overlying straw residues into the soil below the seed horizon, thus preventing the adverse effects of hairpinning and ensuring optimum soil/seed contact. Optimum seed placement requires high pressure on tough, dry, and challenging soils. All Novag models can apply up to 500 kg coulter pressure, and they can be ballasted accordingly. You get perfect seed germination in all conditions.
