New seed drill is ready to go
The fifth prototype of a groundbreaking strip tillage machine has developer Paul Linklater confident it could be a winner.
Manawatu¯ -based Linklater came up with the idea and made the strip tillage machine, that works up strips of soil while applying fertiliser and planting seed in a single pass.
His ‘‘Strip links’’ machine has made the last nine businesses accepted by the Sprout Agritech Accelerator programme. Sprout is the brainchild of Building Clever Companies (BCC) a Palmerston North-based business incubator. It finds agricultural companies and links them with financial and marketing supporters.
‘‘I could see an opening for this type of machine,’’ said Linklater, an agricultural contractor.
‘‘It reduces crop establishment costs. It keeps more moisture in the soil and leaves windrows to protect an establishing crop.’’
Linklater said the crops and fertiliser were put in with one pass of the machine which worked up the soil so roots could establish.
‘‘It means less passes of the tractor. You’d usually have to plough, rip, level, power harrow and then plant. This saves all those tractor passes and hours’’
He said it was more environmentally sound as it didn’t disturb all the soil, but only worked up the row of soil being planted. The main crops the strip tillage machine is being used for is maize and fodder beet. It could also be used for other row crops including beetroot and beans.
‘‘I have used the machine on 350 hectares this season on all sorts of soil types and it has performed really well. This included using the machine on light soil on a farm east of Bulls, and in Hawke’s Bay. Both places could suffer from wind damage, so strip planting worked well. It has been getting fantastic results.’’
Provisional patents have been lodged and he was hoping to get a full patent ‘‘but it is not cheap to get a full patent’’.
He is hoping Sprout pairs him up with an investor and marketer.
‘‘To get to the completion of this fifth prototype has been costly and time-consuming but we now hope to have four machines working next spring.’’
Linklater said in the next few years he thought the drill would cost a lot of money to build and market.
He said he had had fantastic support to come up with the prototypes from his brother, Scott, and his parents Marilyn and Ross.
Linklater said Lincoln University’s Jim Gibbs designed a trial plot in Manawatu¯ and that showed the strip tillage machine was more cost-effective than conventional machines.
He said he was excited to see how far the company could go with the Sprout Agritech Accelerator programme this year.
‘‘I’m pretty stoked to be chosen. I think it’s good timing. We’re close to having something commercial to sell to the public. My skills are in agronomy and it will be great to have help in development and steer us in the right direction as we take the machine to market and seek investment.’’
Striplinks was one of more than 80 agritech startups from across New Zealand and around the globe that applied to be part of the third cohort of the annual Sprout Agritech Accelerator programme.
The five-month programme gives participants access to a pool of more than $500,000 in grants and investments, as well as mentoring from a team of experts and access to four fully-funded block courses at locations around the country designed to increase their business skills.
This year’s cohort will have an opportunity to showcase their businesses as part of the innovation den at the National Agricultural Fieldays.