Fit it and forget it: How MagrowTec became a necessity for Andrew Kennedy
Andrew Kennedy has been spraying crops in the lower southeast of South Australia for over 40 years. He’s seen plenty of products come and go and doesn’t have much time for things that don’t deliver. MagrowTec, he’ll tell you, is not one of those products.
Kennedy Spraying Services operates predominantly in seed crop work – carrots, brassicas, and other high-value production – where coverage, timing, and consistency are everything. Andrew first came across MagrowTec during COVID while scrolling online, unable to travel to Europe as he normally would to look at new spraying technology.
Within 20 minutes of making an enquiry, he had an Irishman on the phone talking him through it. Not long after, he was fitting the system himself to one of his custom-built 24-metre MAN spray trucks – the first person anywhere to self-install a MagrowTec unit. There was some trepidation on both sides, and despite the MagrowTec team putting together a detailed step-by-step YouTube guide, Andrew asserted that “we fitted it very quickly. It’s very simple and very straightforward.”
The trial that changed everything
The proof came fast. The very first job after fitting the system was a rust fungicide application on a wheat crop. Andrew pulled the water rate back further than he expected he’d need to – and the result was as good, if not better, than a standard application. That alone told him something.
In March 2021, with the full support of the MagrowTec team, Andrew went further, conducting a groundbreaking comparative trial focused on coverage within the lower canopy of a seed carrot crop – one of the most demanding spray applications in his operation.
The results were outstanding.
The MagrowTec-equipped sprayer delivered a 52.4% increase in coverage with the first nozzle and a 63.3% increase with the second, alongside a 50 to 60% reduction in drift. “I can immediately see the benefits MagrowTec has delivered,” Andrew said at the time. “The system has greatly reduced drift, increased coverage and increased the productivity of my spraying practices.”
Building confidence over the years
The trial results gave Andrew the confidence to push the system further. He began experimenting with different nozzles and applications – fungicides, insecticides, a range of crops – and the results kept stacking up. Running conventional nozzles at four bar, he found he could punch product through carrot crops up to two metres high and get coverage from the top of the canopy all the way to the bottom. Fungicide intervals stretched from two weeks out to two and a half to three weeks, reducing passes through the crop and delivering genuine cost savings for his clients.
The lower southeast is not an easy environment to spray. Wind is a constant challenge, and workable days can be scarce. With MagrowTec, Andrew can now push into winds of 25 to 26 kilometres per hour with confidence – conditions he wouldn’t have previously touched.
“In our area, you might only get two days a week,” he explains. “If you can add another half to a full day, that’s time in the field doing what we get paid to do.” That productivity gain – half a day to a full day per week – has compounded over years into a significant commercial advantage for his business.
Five years on
Ask Andrew about MagrowTec today and he’ll tell you he forgets it’s even fitted half the time. “You only have to look at the back of the unit and you see it, but you don’t realise it. There is nothing to wear out. There’s nothing that breaks. It just works day in, day out.”
After five years in the field, Andrew now views the MagrowTec boom kit as a necessity. “I think it’s near enough to a necessity in a lot of these units now in Australia. If you’re growing high-value crops or struggling with coverage, MagrowTec will do it every time,” he says.
