Invention reigned supreme at the 2023 Fieldays Innovation Awards with two Waikato entrants taking top honours.
Based in Horotiu, Waikato Milking Systems were the winners of the Prototype Award for ErgoPOD – a product hoping to revolutionise efficiency and safety in the milking shed.
Project specialist at Waikato Milking Systems Tom Morris and his team worked on research and development for four years to advance this project through to the prototype stage, and plan to complete the final stages of development over the next 18 months to get it market-ready.
Waikato Milking Systems executive chairman Jamie Mikkelson says the ErgoPOD journey began with a crazy idea to become the most admired company globally for milking efficiency. “If a single operator could milk a thousand cows in an hour, it would be a game changer, and we believe we are on our way to achieve that with this machine.”
The team decided to enter the Fieldays Innovation Awards because they saw it as an opportunity to introduce their innovative product to the dairy market as upcoming, which it has now successfully achieved.
“Winning this award has been a massive pat on the back for the team, who deserve the accolade after having worked hard over the past few years to deliver a fresh take on a milking system that tackles the current limitations of traditional and robotic ones,” Jamie says.
“We plan to return to the 2024 Fieldays Innovation Awards in the Early-Stage category with a further
developed product.”
Staff on-farm where the ErgoPOD is being trialled provided feedback that cupping has become a much easier task once they were used to using the new technology. They have also noticed that the milk out across all four quarters has become more consistent – which may be down to the cup weight and freedom that each 1/4 has with no claw bowl.
Jamie says Riley, a milker on the trial farm, has been challenging himself to see how fast and accurately he can handle the system and has been achieving 3 1/2 seconds or less for cupping all four quarters.
St Paul’s Collegiate School students won Young Innovator of the Year Award for their Capra Skin Goats Milk lip balm. The Year 13 group – Lucy O’Meeghan, Emma Lobb, Mackenzie Lenton and Lochie Mouat – take Agribusiness as a subject.
Waikato Milking Systems team Tom Morris, Grant Wisnewski and Dave Cassells
They identified a need and formulated steps and iterations to develop a final product that could make a real difference to its target market. Their brand name Capra Skin draws inspiration from the Latin word for goat. “We want our customers to feel exceptional when using our product. We envision our product’s story expanding beyond just lip balm and encompassing other skincare items in the future.”
St. Paul’s Collegiate Agribusiness teacher Chris Foot couldn’t be happier with the performance of the three groups of students who pitched their ideas at the Fieldays Innovation Hub.
“They did well and put up convincing arguments under very difficult and nerve-wracking conditions. Their ideas were innovative, original, and clever; we are extremely proud of them.”
The judges were equally impressed, praising the exceptional quality of the presentations and highlighting the professionalism demonstrated by the young participants.
Innovation has always been at the forefront of Fieldays, since its onset in 1968, with the New Zealand National Fieldays Society’s ongoing ambition being to advance agriculture in New Zealand by supporting and facilitating leadership in technology, innovation, education, and globalisation.
The Fieldays Innovation Awards, starting that same year, was the first competition of its kind in NZ, and is now well-known as the platform for turning ideas of all shapes and sizes into marketable products to benefit the primary industry.
The awards offer three distinct categories: Prototype, Early-Stage, and Growth & Scale, encompassing the entire innovation lifecycle. This opens the possibility of inventors entering different categories each year to showcase any recent progress or advancements made in the project. Despite the 2022 awards being held just six months ago, entrants were keen to showcase their progress and fresh thinking.
The Fieldays Innovation Awards is supported by Fieldays Partners; One NZ and the Ministry for Primary Industries, and Sponsors; Amazon Web Services, Sprout Agritech, and NZME, and Advocates; Gait International, King St. Advertising, Blender Design, and Soda Inc., who all contribute to a prize package valued at over $60,000 worth of cash, support and promotion – from expert advice, product design and development, and marketing and media support, all designed to help the winners grow and develop their product at an accelerated pace.
Fieldays Innovation Awards entries for 2024 will open after a short period of review, and expressions of interest can already be made online at www.fieldays.co.nz/innovation
