Fertile Imaginations Impress Goodyear
Over the last seven months, Goodyear has been on the search for some of the UKs most innovative farmers in their Farming Innovation Award campaign 2009.
The leading tyre manufacturer searched high and low for some of the UKs best farming innovations and has now chosen three finalists from the array of entries.
Steve Dowling owner of Pilgrims Forge, based on a farm in Bedfordshire, is the first of the three lucky finalists in with a chance of winning the prestigious Goodyear Farming Innovation Award 2009 and 3500 worth of Goodyear Farm Tyres.
Steves innovation created together with local farmer, Nigel Barnes and his gamekeeper father is a devise named Grain Master. Grain Master is a loader mounted bucket that when filled and pulled back becomes a hopper that can be efficiently used for filling seed drills, large and small bags, sacks plus pheasant and game feeders. It also handles salt or granular fertilizer. It is designed for filling seed drills, pheasant or game feeders or bags amongst many other products. This diverse invention works as a multi faceted machine converting from a loader mounted bucket to a hopper with a simple adjustable slide. The invention allows for a cross function of applications to be driven off one machine.
Charles Grewcock from Norfolk is the second in line for this top innovation award. Rotabang won first place in the Royal Norfolk Show inventions competition.
His innovation, the Rotabang System, was designed to overcome the limitations of the conventional crop-scarer (gas banger type). The system is a wind powered platform which holds a readily available bird scare and associated components. The platform allows the crop scarer to give 360 degree coverage from one gas banger unit, increasing coverage and reducing noise pollution in one particular direction. The turbine also acts as a scaring device .The system is robust, simple and portable, as well as being eco-friendly.
Goodyear has also selected Richard Ledger of Manor Farm in Kent as a finalist of the innovation award. Richards invention, a Rabbit Fencing Machine, won the Inventive Farmer 2009 Award at the Suffolk Show.
The invention is a tractor mounted machine which ploughs a furrow along a fence line laying out the rabbit wire into the ground. The machine then presses the wire into the ground and covers it with earth by a powered off-set disc. The invention has created a fast and easy way of installing rabbit proof fencing, a continual problem for farmers nationwide.
We have had some interesting entries this year, all worthy of the award. However, we felt the three selected showed the best of what the UKs farming industry had to offer said Phil Stanton, Farm and OTR Manager for Goodyear.
The overall winner will be chosen by leading agricultural and engineering centre, Harper Adams University College and will be announced at the British Ploughing Championships on the 10th October in Cambridgeshire concluded Phil.