Leading Edge Industries, Groton, S.D., recently received a 2016 Finovation award from Farm Industry News for Operation Harvest Sweep, a patent-pending system designed to reduce corn shatter loss at harvest by up to 85%.

The Finovation award is an annual program that recognizes the year’s most popular new product introductions in agriculture. Recipients are selected by the readers of Farm Industry News, a website and publication distributed to the largest corn and soybean producers in the U.S. Farm Industry News and Dakota Farmer are published by Penton Media.

Operation Harvest Sweep replaces the existing deck plates and gathering chains in corn headers with patent-pending components engineered to save shattered kernels from falling to the ground. According to extensive field tests, Operation Harvest Sweep has been shown to reduce shatter loss by 80 to 85%, helping farmers make more money at harvest, while achieving full return on investment in as quickly as one year.

In addition to more bushels harvested, end users may also experience less volunteer corn appearing in their corn/soybean rotations. As a result of less volunteer corn, fewer nutrients and water are stolen from soybeans. Not only can farmers potentially save money by reducing chemical application, but they can also help yield reduction of the soybean crop.

“We harvested 1,800 acres of corn with it, and the ground was clean,” says Glen Crawford, Aberdeen, S.D. “I’ve never had a corn head do that nice of a job, and I would never combine another acre without it.”

Jeff Mills,  Britton, S.D., says he  experienced similar success. “It always bothered me how much loss there was from the corn heads, and it seems like most of the manufacturers haven’t changed their designs much to improve it,” he says. “With Operation Harvest Sweep, the impact pads seem to soften the blow when the corn ears hit the gathering chains, and I can watch the sweeps bring the shattered kernels into the auger. Without it, I know those kernels would have fallen back into the field, and I wouldn’t have been able to reclaim them.”

Founded by fourth-generation farmer Shawn Gengerke, Leading Edge Industries markets The Load Judge and Operation Harvest Sweep, two technologies designed to help today’s farmers save time and money.

For more information, contact Leading Edge Industries at 605-397-2020 or see loadjudge.com and harvestsweep.com

Source: Leading Edge Industries.