Farm inventions – have you got a bright idea?
If you’ve been beavering away in the workshop building something that has saved you time, money or hassle, you should enter Farmers Weekly‘s Farm Inventions competition.
You don’t have to have made an all-singing, all-dancing mix of engine, pulleys and sprockets. It can be something that you’ve pulled together in an afternoon.
And there is no one better placed to decide whether a piece of machinery is up to the job than a farmer or contractor. After all, much of the kit dressed in the livery of mainstream manufacturers started life in a farm workshop.
For instance, 2010’s Farm Inventions competition winner – Cornish farmer David Carbis – displayed the first full-production models of his bag lifter and bale spike at this year’s Grassland show.
As ever, there are three categories:
- Simple machines – those that took less than half a day to put together.
- Intermediate inventions – anything more complicated, perhaps with some simple form of hydraulic or electric system, that took longer to put together.
- Complex – anything that has taken several days (or weeks) to design and make. These often involve an engine and relatively complex set of electrics or hydraulics.
Who is eligible to enter?
Farmers, contractors, farm managers and workers are welcome.
What if I’ve entered my design in other inventions competitions in the past?
Don’t worry, that won’t exclude you.
What about patents?
If you think you may want to patent the device, put the words “Patent Application Likely” at the top of your entry. If you want to know more, check out the Patent Office website.
What are the prizes?
The winner of each of the three categories gets £400, while the runners-up each get £100.
Will you feature the winners?
Yes, all six winning inventions will be featured in Farmers Weekly and on FWi.
Check out the winning designs from last year at to get an idea of what we’re after.
How to enter
Email brief details of what the machine is, how it works and how it benefits the farm or contracting business to david.cousins@rbi.co.uk. Or post them to David Cousins, Farmers Weekly, Quadrant House, The Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey SM2 5AS.
- Please include a couple of reasonably high-resolution pictures, a diagram (if it needs one) and your mobile phone number. Please upload any video footage to YouTube and send us a link.
- Closing date is 31 August 2012.
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