Good ideas keep flowing

Inventor Kevin Smith has come up with a solution to help farmers stop irrigation ponding on farms from irrigation operating systems.

The Rotorua Technipharm employee, who won the supreme innovation award last year in the innovations and inventions section of the National Fieldays, was back at the Mystery Creek event this year showcasing the Irrisafe irrigation shut-off system.

Smith said Irrisafe, a small machine on wheels, would help farmers be farm dairy effluent (FDE) compliant by not having ponding on their paddocks.

It can be attached to any effluent travelling irrigator allowing for safe irrigation of cowshed effluent on to paddocks.

"Irrisafe has an effluent cut-off system," Smith says.

"When the effluent spreader stops moving Irrisafe will react and shut off the flow of effluent. This in turn shuts of the pump."

Irrisafe also shuts off if the supply of effluent flow or pressure is too fast, too slow, too high or too low - also shutting down the pump and reducing ponding.

Farmers will find the system cheap and effective to operate, Smith says. "Farmers like simplicity.

"This is a low-cost, simple system ... it's compatible with the environment and is very easy to use."

It doesn't rely on batteries, GPS or digital phone messages to operate, making it very reliable and suitable for all areas.

"It's about making life easier for our farmers when dealing with effluent while ensuring they are FDE compliant." New farm dairy effluent compliance rules mean farmers have to have a system which is set to deliver a certain performance rating and have less than a 20 per cent variable within the system.

For example, systems have to have even pressure and flow at all times.

"Irrisafe is designed to comply with all FDE parameter."

Smith has been an inventor for about 10 years, a hobby that fits in well with his job for Technipharm because "we are always working with farmers to find the best solutions to problems on farms".

It's a part of his job he really enjoys. "It's very fulfilling. I really love making things and I especially love that creation process."