Ambrose and Lisa Doolan, owners of Doolan’s Precisions Feeding of Coonabarabran are agents for the Swedish company Vaderstad which bought out the Canadian company Seed Hawk.

“The new machine is a fusion of technology from the Vaderstad’s air seeder and hydraulic controls to measure out the seed and Seed Hawk’s precision seed placement,” Mr Doolan said.

The machine has all the leading edge features of a broad-acre machine including GPS compatibility with varying rates on a compact machine that would suit smaller operations and contract work.

“It has a narrow transport width of 2.9m so the machine will easily fold up and can be transported by road without an escort vehicle or from paddock to paddock on the same property,” Mr Doolan said.

When starting the next job or a new paddock, there are four easy steps to calibrate the machine which comes up on the control box.

Mr Doolan describes the machine’s efficiency as “a step up in seed technology placement and calibration married with GPS technology to change fertiliser and feeding rates.”

From a marketing stand point, Mr Doolan said the machine is for any farmer who wants to establish crop and pastures accurately in a wide range of soil types and conditions from broad acre to dairy farming.

While using the machine, the Doolan’s neighbour cut his canola seeding rates back by one third because of the machine’s accuracy and precision placement.

Wodonga business owners Brian and Caroline Schulz won the HMFD commendation award with their Salt Free desalination unit.

Their new business Salt Free is marketing a desalination unit designed by Caroline’s father Don McPherson and is built locally in Victoria.

“It is highly effective in reducing salt levels down to 50 parts per million as well as removing impurities such as iron, calcium and magnesium salts,” Mr Schulz said.

Fully digitalised with computer read-outs that let the owner know if there is a problem, the unit has many safety features to protect and look after the extensive membrane inside the unit. Sensors in the storage tank enable the unit to run itself, and continually fill up the storage tank when required.