FROM SMITHY TO SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY
The story behind Fasterholt Maskinfabrik
Fasterholt Maskinfabrik was founded in 1958 by Agner Thisgaard and Johannes Laursen. Back then, the company was called Fasterholt Smedie. We started to mainly manufacture irrigators in 1975, and the following year, the company’s name changed to Fasterholt Maskinfabrik A/S.
At that time, there was a drought in Denmark, and potato farmers were under pressure because no water meant no potatoes. This triggered a huge demand for irrigators in the potato industry, and our adventure began from there.
Plus 10,000 irrigators
The very first type of irrigator that we manufactured back in 1975 was a huge success. It was a self-moving irrigator that fitted in between the potato rows. Since 1987, when we took over the company Pomas Vandingsmaskiner, our product portfolio has also included hose reel machines. After manufacturing 650 Pomas machines, these machines were phased out, and in 2003 we took over the manufacturing of hose reel machines from the company Bording Vandingsmaskiner.
By purchasing Bording Vandingsmaskiner, Fasterholt Maskinfabrik became the leading irrigator manufacturer in Scandinavia. This position was cemented in autumn 2022, when we manufactured number 10,000 of our self-moving machines, all of which are descendants of the first machine from 1975.
Run by the third generation
In 2003, Agner Thisgaard sold Fasterholt Maskinfabrik to his three children. Agner’s son-in-law, Peter Flø, continued as managing director. Later, Agner was awarded The Royal Danish Agricultural Society’s silver medal for the advancement Danish agriculture, which shows the importance of his invention many years earlier. In August 2021, Peter Flø passed on the role as managing director to his daughter, Rikke Kjær Aslak, so now the family-owned company is run by the third generation.
Quality is a duty, and this is why we develop systems for intelligent irrigation. The goal is to ensure that farmers only use the amount of water needed in a field at any given time. The amount of water is adjusted by using parameters such as soil type, topography and crop for each field.
Valuable improvements
In addition to saving water, one of our most important natural resources, our systems help to save fuel and man-hours as much of the manual field work can now be done from the tractor or from the farm. This improvement also makes the farmer’s work environment better and more ergonomic, since getting in and out of the tractor puts enormous strain on the body.
