Aluminum spray booms are coming to America. These rigid, lightweight alternatives to the traditional steel spray booms already command a large share of the European market and are starting to take hold in Canada.

Now Fast Distributing is bringing this technology to the United States, using the French-made Pommier aluminum spray boom. Similar booms were featured at the Hardi sprayer exhibit at the SIMA International Agri-Business Exposition held in Paris in March.

The Pommier booms are constructed of round, aluminum tubes extruded for extra strength and arranged in a three-dimensional trellis structure, making them lightweight and corrosion resistant. A unique internal rib structure gives the booms rigidity and strength, and all booms fold and unfold hydrostatically.

Five sprayer models with the aluminum booms can be ordered now for next season through Fast Distributing. The company is buying the boom structure from Pommier and mounting them to its own standard steel, front-mounted sprayer sections.

The sprayers, with a 1,000-gal. tank, will make either a 60-ft. swath folded or a 120-ft. pass fully extended. Sprayers are expected to retail for around $77,000. Contact Fast Distributing, Dept. FIN, 54859 County Rd. 44, Mountain Lake, MN 56159, 800/772-9279, www.fastdist.com.