This is a subscriber-only article
John Kennedy of Stealth Manufacturing was the overall winner of the 2014 JFC Innovation Awards announced in Galway this week. The contractor/engineer won the €15,000 prize fund for an innovative new silage trailer called the Stealth Kompactor 40 (K-40) that was launched on the market this week.
“Stealth reflects the speed, strength and agility. Kompactor refers to the fact that the trailer uses a unique system to fill the trailer that is 40 m3 in size when empty,” said John. The trailer uses the tractor hydraulics to compact the grass silage while it is loaded.
With compaction, the trailer has a capacity of 60m3. After carrying out tests in 2013, John found that the added capacity of the K-40 could reduce the number of trailers needed on many jobs from three to two. This reduces fuel, labour and time for contractors, three of the biggest costs.
The K-40 is unloaded by a hydraulic ram in a push design which means the trailer does not have to be tipped, reducing time and increasing safety. The unloading time is just 40 seconds. Because the grass offloaded is already partly compacted it makes it easier to load in the pit.
This loading system makes it attractive for indoor use. The trailer is lighter than others and the sliding axle underneath allows for better weight distribution, which is safer and reduces soil compaction. John believes that the K-40 will be used for transporting other crops and products as well. The trailer is being further developed to allow the body to be lifted off so that other machines can be put on it.
The trailers will start at €35,000 + VAT. John Kennedy has been a contractor for over 25 years, during which time he has harvested over 50,000 acres, focusing primarily on silage. He is based in Nenagh, Co Tipperary. www.stealth.ie
Energy/Manufacturing category winner
Neilus Murphy was the winner in the Energy/Manufacturing category and collected €1,500 in prize money for his innovative product, the Graze Mate Drover, a mobile gate that is operated by mobile phone.
The farmer sets the system up at the gate of the paddocks the cows are grazing. He then can send a text message to open the gate before milking to let the cows in and also text to tell it to close when the cows are let out. It is especially useful when farmers are letting cows out to the paddocks in batches – for instance, when they are testing or for AI. The Graze Mate system can also operate through a clock on the machine that can be set around milking times. The product has a telescopic boom that extends up to 3.6m. If needed, bigger gaps are closed with a spring loaded tape that extends to 10m.
The Drover also has a buzzer to alert the herd that the barrier is open. Neilus first entered the idea in the JFC Innovation Awards in 2013. Since then he has developed the concept and won the top prize in the Toplink innovation awards at the National Ploughing Championships. As part of the prize, he went to the LEMMA show and won another award there. He has already sold 100 and his website www.grazemate.ie has just gone live, allowing farmers to look at the product and buy direct.
The Drover is priced at €695 +VAT. Neilus has identified a distributor in Britain, Kiwi Kit. Helped by Enterprise Ireland, he also has plans to launch the product in New Zealand at the Fieldays event in June. He received a grant of €20,000 from the county enterprise board and has funded the development from bank loans and personal funds.
Value-added/Speciality Food
Eileen and Ray McClure of Kitchen Incubators Kerry won the Value-added/Speciality Food category and €1,500 in prize money. Last year, Eileen and Ray McClure entered the JFC Innovation Awards with an idea to set up state-of-the-art kitchen units that could be rented by the hour in Farranfore, Co Kerry.
They returned to the competition this year under budget and fully open for business. They used microfinance Ireland as well as banks to get the finance needed to draw down the 75% LEADER funding for the €180,000 project. They now offer four kitchen units, a full chef’s kitchen where meat and fish are allowed, a bakery kitchen, a confectionery kitchen and a demonstration kitchen to allow chefs carry out training and cookery demonstrations. It’s nearly 6,000 sq ft in total and all environmental health approved. They were charging €30/hr, but dropped prices to encourage producers to try the kitchens and make sure they told others. They offer the services of a food adviser, which has really benefited some of the producers. Most users have been start-up businesses that trade in farmers markets.
Some established food businesses have come in to use the kitchens for research and development or cook a specific product for their shops. They also provide space where producers can store ingredients. Eileen has started a small-scale food business herself, making fudge, and is planning to sell it at farmers’ markets, another way to promote the business.
While the company has plans to add more kitchens as demand increases, it is also looking at the other half of the building that is currently unoccupied. One idea is to use it as a warehouse for food to make it a distribution hub for small food businesses in Kerry. Eileen also sees the potential to franchise the kitchen incubator idea to other parts of the country.
Services/Rural Tourism category winner
Larry Masterson was the winner in the Services/Rural Tourism category and took home €1,500 in prizes for developing the social farming model on his Blissberry Farm in Co Donegal. Social farming is a new wave of innovation developed from the Social Farming Across Borders initiative. This new concept was piloted on 20 farms in the North and South of Ireland. Larry has been interested in social farming for many years and helped instigate the current initiative in Ireland.
Social farming was originally developed in the Netherlands and is popular across Europe. It is the practice of offering family farms as a form of social service. The farm is used in a different way to provide health, social or educational care services for a range of vulnerable groups of people. It remains a working farm where people in need of support can benefit from participation in the farm activities. People who have used it include those with mental health difficulties, disabilities or those who are in need of rehabilitation.
“Working in a social farm environment has been shown to have a major impact, giving people a chance to develop something for themselves and improving their skills and health,” said Larry. Blissberry Farm itself is a 50 acre mixed farm near Mountcharles in Donegal. As well as arable crops and conservation areas, it has a flock of sheep, ponies, donkeys, hens and ducks and a small orchard, with raised beds, an open cultivated area of organic blueberries and a large poly-tunnel.
Larry has been producing food for sale in the local country market and has a farmgate shop as well. It all provides plenty of opportunities for farm helpers to work with the animals or get involved with vegetable growing and conservation work. Social farming has proved successful in other countries and looks set to provide a fulfilling diversification for more farmers in the years ahead.
blissberryfarmmountcharles.wordpress.com
Start-up category winner
David Moorehead won the Start-up category and €1,500 in prize money for his Green Sword environmentally friendly detergent. David has over 20 years of experience in microbial science and has developed a microbial liquid that he claims is a scientific breakthrough.
It originated from work carried out in his own poultry houses on his farm near Pubble in Co Fermanagh. Faced with a higher than acceptable level of ammonia contamination in the air, he used his knowledge to look at ways to reduce it. That work led to the cleaning product, which is a blend of bacterial spores and bio-stimulating agents that can break down oil in the soil, on water and on hard surfaces much quicker than current products.
What’s more, it can do it in an environmentally friendly way. What’s more, it can do it in an environmentally friendly way. Once the Green Sword process is complete, David says there is little trace of the oil contamination left behind. The other major benefit is that it does it at a cost that is 40% lower than current products. David has been working closely with Queens University and the University of Ulster to carry out tests.
The first markets the Green Sword will be unleashed are where oil is produced. As well as planned field trials in the Middle East, he sees big potential for cleaning decommissioned oil platforms in the North Sea. The product can also be used to clean the oil residues off all types of vehicles and a highly diluted version is developed to be used in water that is being recycled.
Some of the biggest challenges will be accessing funding and David is working with Invest NI to attract investors. On paper the markets are huge but David does not underestimate the challenges in starting with a new product and a new company. However, like any good inventor, he has a range of new products that can be developed to build the green sword brand in the next five years.
The sponsors
“JFC has been delighted to be involved with the awards for the last seven years and this year’s winner, Stealth Manufacturing, shows that farmers will continue to look for new and better ways to do things,” said JFC managing director, John Concannon, at the awards ceremony. “Innovation is not only required when starting a business but is what keeps a company alive and thriving. It has been the backbone of JFC for many years and is one of the key reasons that we have grown to employing nearly 300 people and are selling to over 40 countries.”
“We started out in agriculture and farming remains a strong element of our business and we continue to bring out innovative products like the Tidywrap recycling bin last year.”
“We have had to continually look at new products and different sectors to grow.”
SHARING OPTIONS: