A leading European agricultural machinery manufacturer is creating a working farm demonstration area, showroom and new UK head office on the outskirts of Doncaster.
The Amazone Group has bought Orchard Farm, a 30-acre holding at Auckley, and has started work on converting it into a sales, service, training, research and education centre.
Work is scheduled to complete next year, prompting the transfer of the business from Blyth Road, Harworth, where it has been since 1990.
PAI member Fisher German marketed and sold the existing site at Harworth and negotiated a lease back deal, pending the completion of the Orchard Farm development.
Amazone made the investment to ensure it is in a position to offer British farmers meaningful advice, the most up-to-date solutions to help reduce environmental impact and the machinery to meet the needs of an ever-growing population and a doubling in the demand for food by 2050.
The Germany-based group invests heavily in research and development, both in machinery and in searching for optimised agronomical systems that enable farmers across the globe to improve yields, use sustainable pesticides and fertilisers, negate erosion and enhance soil health, while improving efficiency, reducing costs and keeping food affordable.
This research occurs in many countries across the world to reflect local climate and soil type. The UK business has carried out long-term trials around the country for more than 20 years into ways of maintaining sustainable arable crop production.
The new site will host trials and a working farm to demonstrate the wide range of equipment available to prospective clients.
It will also offer training of the highest level to machinery operators, dealer service staff as well as the next generation of farmers via the education of students from agricultural colleges and universities across the UK.
Amazone Ltd MD Adrian Winnett: “This multi-million-pound investment in a purpose-built facility means that Orchard Farm will be able to offer so much more scope than we currently have. And, as such, heralds the next exciting stage in the development of Amazone in the UK.
“It will also house the sales and service division, spare parts supply, whole goods distribution and the infrastructure behind the whole business in a state-of-the-art facility that will benefit our employees and our client base alike.
“We are grateful to Kevin Benson and his team at Fisher German for their property expertise and seeing us through the successive stages since acquiring the site in 2015 to where we are now with starting the construction work.”
Fisher German marketed the Harworth site at a £1.1m asking price, with a £92.5k per annum sale and leaseback deal, offering an initial 7.94% net yield on the investment.
Partner Kevin Benson said: “This was a great project to work on, helping Adrian and his team from start to finish to relocate their business across Doncaster into a new facility that will hopefully serve them wonderfully for the next 20-plus years.”
For further information, contact Kevin Benson on 01302 243904 or email him This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
