The John Deere Horst factory in the Netherlands has produced its 1,000th self-propelled sprayer, a R4040i. This ‘landmark’ machine was handed over to a farm business in the Czech Republic at a special Gold Key ceremony held at the factory.

John Deere Horst has taken only nine years to reach this production milestone for self-propelled sprayers, and it was only one year ago that the factory celebrated the production of its 10,000th trailed sprayer.

The Horst factory has a long tradition in the plant protection industry, with over 70 years of designing and manufacturing crop sprayers for the European market.

In 1997, John Deere bought the businessof Dutch manufacturer Douven, including the Horst facility, which has since been extended and developed to increase its production capacity.

The Gold Key for the 1,000th self-propelled sprayer was handed over to Czech customers Miloslav and Zdenek Lukas at the new visitor centre, which only opened in 2016.

The R4040i is equipped with a 4,000-litre tank and a triple-folding 24/36m variable-geometry spray boom with automatic control of boom height and tilt. It also features hydraulic tread-width adjustment, allowing fast and easy changes for different row widths.