Land Reclamation Tool Invented By Farmer

Land Reclamation Tool Invented By Farmer MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT Earth Movers 21-6-29 An Australian farmer is putting the finishing touches on a new land reclamation tool that he says could add millions to the southeast-ern Australian economy and other countries around the world, including the U.S., Africa and the Middle East. The "Claymate", invented by Noel Fisher of Frances, South Australia, combines up-front ripping blades with a rotary drum that mixes underlying clay with surface sand, changing the soil structure. It's expected to allow the agricultural development of nearly 5 million acres of sandy, water repellent soils known as ænon-wetting sands' on 8,600 properties in Western Australia, Southern Australia and Western Victoria. Here's why there's so much interest in Fisher's machine: Conventional earthmoving equipment used to work up and remix such soils is ex-pensive and requires 400 hp or bigger equipment to operate and several different ma-chines must be used to complete the job. The "Claymate" combines the operations of collecting, pulverizing, mixing and spreading the soils, and one application lasts for generations. It's fuel efficient and requires only a 150 hp tractor. Fisher and a group of engineers, called Dryland Engineering Pty. Ltd., showed off their pre-production machine last summer at farm shows throughout southwestern Australia. (Town and Country Magazine)

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.