“With the application windows become shorter, the output capabilities are very, very important,” says Brad Baker, vice president of sales and marketing for Salford. And partnerships are important, too, as the company recently announced that it’s partnered with Case IH on a new 72-foot air boom called the Case IH FA 1030 for 2021.

The new air boom, with 350 cubic feet of hopper space, will be available this fall on the Case IH Titan 4540 with plans to make it available for 3540 Titan floater models by next July.

The new air boom, he says, is all about increased output — 1,200 pounds per acre at 10 mph. It’s also about versatility as it can output three different products at a time in multiple bin configurations: a single-bin configuration, a single with micro-bin configuration, a double-bin configuration and even a triple-bin configuration.

Adjustable dividers allow an operator to go from 50-50 to 60-40 split with no tools required. If used for a third product, it can be configured for 50-37-13 or 60-27-13 splits.

“For a commercial applicator, this creates a lot of versatility for them,” he says.

The variable-rate product application system is powered by dual, independently driven stainless-steel mesh chain conveyors. The rear-mounted boom is equipped with 32 factory-tuned deflector plates, so each can distribute the same amount of product.

Case IH Viper 4+ control provides the user interface inside the cab.

The new air boom is the latest product to come out of Salford’s Valmar division. Salford acquired Valmar in 2015 and the division, known officially as Valmar Airflo Inc., designs and manufactures granular applicators for fertilizer, herbicide, insecticide, seed, seed inoculant and forage preservatives.

They’ve designed chassis-mounted air booms for several companies, including the Valmar 6700 for select John Deere models, and what the company claims is the largest-capacity boom spreader in the world, the 9620 with 660 cubic foot capacity.

Julie Rudnick, campaign manager for Case IH’s crop production business, says the package list price for the air boom and 4540 starts at $421,457.

Visit Case IH online to learn more.