A device which puts antifreeze into water-filled tractor tyres has picked up the top ‘Farmer Idea Exchange’ prize at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s 88th annual meeting.

The invention, designed by Texas farmer John Gipson, is made primarily from PVC pipe and other ‘readily available’ parts, and takes less than an hour to assemble. It is claimed to eliminate antifreeze waste and remove the cost of paying a tyre service company to add the antifreeze.

Mr Gipson won a year’s use of a New Holland TV-145 bidirectional tractor.

Other winning inventions at the ceremony included a ‘seed stopper’ which helps prevent farmers spilling beans when filling seed boxes on a planter and a device to quickly measure the height of Christmas trees in six inch increments.

The “Most widely useable” award was won by Missouri farmer, Clifton Wilbourn, who designed a pressurised tank which can be used to clean dirt out of air filters.