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Observer
VOLUME 87 • NO.29 | FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2023
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Two Grade 12 students from the Carnduff Education Complex continue to earn praise and prizes for their concept that could change irrigation in agriculture. Logan Stewart and Wyatt Thompson took the top prize of $22,500 at a pitch competition hosted by the Southeast Techhub on Nov. 24 at the Southeast College’s Estevan campus. The students had one of four innovative concepts entered, and dozens of people turned out to learn more about the projects and to see who would be named the winner. The pitch competition had a similar format to the TV shows Dragon’s Den and Shark Tank. Each of the entrepreneurs was given 15 minutes to explain their idea and what they would do with the $22,500 cash prize if they were selected as the winner. Then the five judges peppered the hopefuls with questions, and they needed a considerable amount of time to choose a winner. Stewart and Thompson’s business is Smart Irrigation, which is a portable irrigation system. Both come from an agriculture background, and they believe their idea would benefit farmers and ranchers while helping with food security. “Farmers right now have to buy an irrigation [system] for every field and that irrigation system is not actually able to reach the corners of the field,” said Thompson. They said afterwards they were stunned to win the pitch competition. “Ever since we started, everyone has been quite impressed with it,” said Thompson. “I didn’t think it would go this far.”
They marvelled at the other ideas that were presented, and Stewart added he wouldn’t have wanted to be one of the judges. Not only is their design able to be moved to different sections of land, but it can also provide water to an entire parcel. They believe more farmers would turn to them because of their concept’s practicality. Stewart added it would become a time saver. “It would extend in the field to reach the corners and then shrink up and fold up for transport,” said Stewart. While the portable unit has to be longer to reach the corners, they predicted it would save farmers money in the long run because of its advantages. They believe their primary competition would be from centre-pivot irrigation systems. Thompson said those are well built and known to farmers, but they aren’t portable and it takes time to assemble them and take them apart. He added that centre-pivot misses about 15 per cent of a field, which on a quarter section of land, amounts to 24 acres. That adds up when a farmer has over a dozen quarter sections. “The telescopic feature on this allows us to make it road legal so you don’t have to do any disassembly … you just simply unhook your water source, and fold onto it and hook onto it … and bring it to your next field,” said Thompson. They would hook into the water in the same way as current irrigation systems. Thompson and Stewart came up with the idea last year as a school project. Their respective farms were going through a
Wyatt Thompson, left, and Logan Stewart were the winners of the Southeast Techhub’s inaugural pitch competition Friday night at the Southeast College’s Estevan campus. drought and they were trying to come up with an idea that could help farmers. They presented Smart Irrigation at a regional science fair, advanced to the national science fair and have been working on the concept ever since. “We are still improving on the models to this day,” said Thompson. Stewart and Thompson don’t know how much it will cost to produce or sell one of the units, and they’re not sure how long it will take before it’s available on the market. In the meantime, they’re going to keep working on the project, they’ll finish their Grade 12 years, and they’re going to seek post-secondary education. The money from win-
ning the pitch competition will go towards getting the project into development. The other presenters were: *Steven Hansen, a worker in the oil and gas industry who is the founder of StreamTech, a cloud-based business management platform. *Rod Cullen started Predator Inspections earlier this year. Using sensors on drones, invisible energy is captured to benefit clients. *Keith Hesketh promoted his plans for Long Creek Aquaponics, a greenhouse and fish farming business that he wants to establish The judges for the event were Suzanne McNabb with SaskPower, Mike Wolsfeld A2 » OTHER
Following the Parade Friday & Saturday!
By David Willberg
FREE STUFF
Students win top prize and $22,500 for their innovative farm irrigation concept
CARLYLE
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