Archive Article: 2001/10/26
ONE of the many good things about our annual farm inventions competition is that it spans all types of farming. So we are as likely to receive a picture and details of a cider apple harvester as a new piece of cultivation kit.
Vegetable production, in particular, seems to yield a crop of new inventions each year and the lettuce planter featured this month is a good example of the ingenuity of one person who has taken an existing off-the-shelf design and improved on it to a dramatic extent.
This month we also turn our attention to ways of combating the seemingly unstoppable rise in thefts from farms, particularly of small, high-value items like ATVs, chainsaws and power tools. An interesting new way of marking kit has been introduced in Sussex that provides an invisible and permanent record of the owner. So far it is limited to the county but the hope is that it will spread to the rest of the country.
Finally we look at a high-power 1/2in impact wrench from Universal Air Tools that could be just the ticket for those looking for a piece of equipment to speed up maintenance and repair chores in the farm workshop.