Farm machinery engineering business TRP Ltd has committed two of its branches to supporting McCormick tractor users with essential parts and service back-up throughout a large swathe of eastern counties agriculture.
TRP chairman Roger Pearson and managing director Jonathan Pearson spent several months examining options for a new tractor franchise at their Sleaford headquarters in Lincolnshire and the Everton branch near Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Their appointment as McCormick sales and service dealers was confirmed by national distributor AgriArgo UK when the red tractors featured prominently on TRP’s Lincolnshire Show stand.
“We had several approaches from different manufacturers and weighed up the product range that would best suit the types of farming served by our branches, as well as the way the suppliers do business,” says Roger Pearson. “In the final analysis, we got a positive message from other McCormick dealers about the team at AgriArgo and concluded that the McCormick product range would be our best choice.”
TRP Ltd now has a McCormick territory east of the M1 extending south from Goole to Stamford and bordering the territories of established McCormick dealers Yorkshire Handlers to the north, and JPM Agricultural and Robert H Crawford covering the rest of Lincolnshire. To the west, the TRP territory borders Catley Engineering at Desford, Alkmonton Tractors near Ashbourne, N&S Moorhouse at Barugh and Barlows of Henbury.
“We’re delighted to welcome such an established operation as TRP to the national McCormick dealer network,” says Ray Spinks, sales director and general manager at AgriArgo UK. “TRP has the resources and commitment to provide a high standard of parts, repairs and servicing support to users of our tractors.”
TRP salesmen Tony Hailstone at Everton and Tony Dimmock at Sleaford are now familiarising themselves with a McCormick line-up that is being transformed with the introduction of as many as eight new ranges over the next two to three years.
They result from a big investment in R&D by McCormick manufacturer Argo Tractors in Italy, points out area sales manager Tim Lawrence.
“The four- and six-cylinder McCormick X7 Pro Drive tractors have been met with a lot of interest as a design that’s modern but not too complex for part-time, inexperienced or seasonal drivers, yet has enough modern technology to appeal to regular and experienced operators,” he says.
“The 85-113hp McCormick X50 range has also been launched, with more power and torque but better fuel economy from its new engine, and now it’s the turn of the smaller 90-107hp X4 to be in the spotlight,” he adds. “The X4 is a size and specification we’ve not had in the McCormick range before – and that also goes for the first McCormick tractors with stepless CVT drive and up to 300hp being developed by Argo Tractors.”
For Jonathan Pearson at TRP, the new product development programme was a big draw in the choice of franchise because the type of farming served by the two branches calls for competitive tractors across the power spectrum.
“In the Doncaster area we’re looking at mixed arable and grass farms, particularly beef units, running smaller to mid-size tractors,” he explains. “At Sleaford, our market among contractors, arable farms and commercial horticulture is for straightforward, reliable tractors for field cultivations and spraying, and vegetable harvesting rigs and trailer work.
“The McCormick range fits the bill nicely and will only get better as the new models come through,” he points out.
Comments from farmers who climbed aboard the 143-212hp McCormick X7 Pro Drive tractors at the Lincolnshire Show highlighted the spacious and light, airy feel of the new cab, the good-size of the passenger seat – which folds away out of sight when not being used – and the quality finish and simple layout of the switchgear and other controls.
“We’re looking forward to getting out and about with our demonstrator tractors to show how well the McCormick product has come on,” says Jonathan Pearson.
