The dragon’s den of agribusiness
Three Waikato lads have invented what they say is a revolutionary new farm gate latch.
As part of their Agribusiness class St Paul’s Collegiate School students Zack Wilde, Harry Empson and Kaiah Pere have designed a gate latch which could reduce the time a farmer spends jumping on and off their farm-bike as the go through paddocks.
Next month they will take their design to the Crocodile Pit, a concept based on the Dragon’s Den TV show, with 70 other classmates competing for a place at the Fieldays Young Innovator of the Year Award at Mystery Creek in June
The group describe the design as “a latch which with a simple slam of the gate to engage the locking mechanism provides a much faster and efficient alternative then the traditional latch.”
The idea came from Wilde’s experience on a mate’s farm while he was living in Australia.
“Young farmers on motorbikes don’t want to waste time opening and shutting gates,” he said. “So it could save us time.”
This week they created a 3D image of the latch which has cemented the design and added to their optimism.
St Paul’s agribusiness teacher Kerry Allen said past winners of the Crocodile Pit have had opportunities to develop their ideas further and even sell their prototypes.
The three latch designers have definitely got plans for the future. Pere said he can see himself running his own business, Wilde said he would like to do a business degree at university and Empson said although university is an option he would like to help his brother start up a new business in Australia.
It is not compulsory to physically create their design but Empson said they are planning to approach a fabricator in Te Awamutu to make at least one latch out of stainless steel.
“We think it will cost $4.80 to make,” he said. “Our plan is to sell them for $11.80 each.”
“We have been thinking a lot about this design,” Wilde said. “We want the prototype to see how it really works.”