Solar Pump Solutions was the big winner at the Innovation Arena awards at the National Ploughing Championships this year.

More than 60 companies showcased their innovation in what was the largest-ever arena supported by Enterprise Ireland, the Irish Farmers Journal and the National Ploughing Association.

The sun really shone on Bryan Davis, who developed a solar-powered water pumping system that can operate in any remote location, pumping water at high pressure without needing access to electricity. He carried away the Alfred Cox Founder’s Perpetual Trophy for best start-up, the agri engineering start-up and the young innovator prize sponsored by Macra.

Announcing the €70,000 in prizes at the awards, Julie Sinnamon, CEO Enterprise Ireland, said the innovation and competition was stronger than ever in every category.

“The arena builds on the worldwide reputation of Irish agriculture machinery and ag tech,” she said.

Over 100 overseas buyers were hosted by Enterprise Ireland as part of the event to ensure Irish companies can build on growing export markets. Justin McCarthy, editor and CEO, Irish Farmers Journal, said the Innovation Arena is going from strength to strength and shows the real innovation within Irish companies.

Female leadership award

At the awards, Anna May McHugh of the National Ploughing Association was delighted to award the Anna May McHugh female leadership award to duo Evelyn Murphy and Aine Lecky. They have developed their well-known company Major Equipment into a strong manufacturer and exporter powerhouse from their Mayo base.

Another well-known company, Keenan, won the large established company agri engineering award with its MechFiber 345SP, the first in a new generation of unique self-propelled diet feeders.

Samco Agricultural Manufacturing won the agri-engineering Irish company award for its new machine that consolidates the soil, lays the film and finally accurately sows the seed using the ingenious Punch Wheel Unit, ensuring precise sowing depth and spacing of seeds. The judges were impressed by their newly developed Black Bio Films for weed control in organic farming that it plans to start manufacturing in its Limerick base.

Established award

Circadian, formerly known as Equilume, won the agritech established award. The company is adapting its innovative blue light mask for improving breeding in horses for dairy cows. Moorepark trials have shown their use can increase milk production by up to 9% for older spring-calving cows. They just pipped MoocallHeat, a new breeding collar for bulls developed by Moocall, in a very strongly contested category.

Winner

In the agri technology start-up category, OneClick Accounts, a phone app that allows contractors and other business to log work and send out invoices seamlessly, emerged as winner.

Ozone Industries Ireland won the agri-environmental category with RainSafe, an AgriSafe Water Treatment Machine which is used to treat the water in poultry farms prior to it being consumed by the birds, giving the flock clean, aerated and slightly ozonised water for drinking.

There was a strong focus on safety in the arena this year. Safe-Shaft Systems Limited won the safety award for its alternative system for supplying rotational torque to PTO-driven equipment.The retrofit system was researched and a prototype has been designed, developed and manufactured and the innovation is now in production.

Another retrofit product, the Slurry Solver, won the best research from thrid-level award for DIT Hothouse, Dublin. It is a floating membrane structure which is inserted into existing slatted units and is semi-submerged in the slurry. It has the potential to convert slurry tanks into an anaerobic digester.

International award

The international award was won by Agrispeed from Northern Ireland, which developed a safer, more efficient round bale handler.

The last award to be decided, the People’s Choice Award, will be announced on Thursday. Voting is on the Irish Farmers Journal website or through the Ploughing app.

Also in the Innovation Arena, applications for Yield Lab 2018’s European Accelerator were launched at the Ploughing. Up to six companies could get €100,000. They are looking for start-ups based in Europe that utilise technology to sustainably improve agricultural systems and food availability to apply, and the six programme dates are based mainly in Ireland, with trips to London and St Louis in Missouri.

Interested applicants should apply via the website www.theyieldlab.com/apply. The application window closes on 3 November.

Innovation Arena winners 2017