Farmer or Inventor first?

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By Dwain Duxson

Farmer or Inventor first? - This story might go a bit longer than usual, but it is worth telling. We wrote a story in The Farmers Club Newsletter this morning about how many Farmers are also very clever at building stuff, especially in the Workshop. See below the story:

Farmers are an innovative bunch, and we say it pretty flippantly, but when you stop and think a while, the examples are everywhere. I am singling in on Equipment Manufacturing here; how many Farmers have started tinkering in the Farm workshop as a bit of a sideline only to turn that passion into a business that can sometimes overtake the Farm? The workshop for many Farmers is what the Golf course is to others. The reason why Farmers make good Engineers is because they like solving problems. We are natural problem solvers. Building something from scratch, knowing it's going to make a particular Farming operation better, is what drives these people. The best Ag Tech businesses in the country were all started by Farmers, and I could name a dozen Aussie-made Farm Equipment brands that Farmers started. There would be heaps more.

With the story above, this reply came from Paul Ryan, from Ryan NT, who is the son of the late Austin Ryan OAM, who built the famous Ryan Farm Machinery (RFM) brand. A brilliant man. Toby, the third generation has just started in the business to keep the legacy going. Paul takes up the story about his dad below. This is what he said:

He would wake in the early hours of the morning and go over the workshop and tinker with his ideas. He reckons he would wake around 3 most mornings and start nutting out things. He claimed his Coil Press Wheel to be his best invention. We now have this in 5 countries. Not to forget, he was one of the first with an Airseeder that came out in 1977. He always told the story of how he thought of it on holidays at Portarlington in January and had it in the field by May Seeding. By the late 1970s/early 80's he was exporting to South Africa and shipped models to the UK and USA. Not to mention, he developed a Disc Seeder after the 82 drought (the mother of all droughts) to combat soil and moisture erosion.

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International Harvester took on his invention, and started manufacturing them in their Geelong plant for the Australian and US market. No-Till Seeding struggled to gain legs as no one knew how to work chemicals into the program back then. So he came out with the idea of deep banding Seed and Fertiliser. The rest is history in regards to that matter.

The Scaravator started out on the family Farm at Beulah. The name is derived from Scarifier and Cultivator. Austin could see a need for a spring release wideline versus a spring tyne Cultivator. The spring tyne market was predominantly dominated by Shearer and Acklands at the time. Austin saw a need for a wideline that could Cultivate and Scarify at the same time. He added a patented feature to the Scaravator, where the centre section could pivot so it could follow the ground across the Bar into undulating contours.

So the Scaravator was the first ever spring release wideline Cultivator back in the late 50’s. He soon learnt quickly about Tyne patterns. I was told his first Scaravator he took down to the local country Tennis club (Galiquil) on a Saturday afternoon to show his mates what he had done, and the machine crabbed down the paddock sideways. By the next Saturday, he had it right. He ended up getting it made under licence by Bolwell & Johns in Horsham who were big in manufacturing a Gypsum Spreader. Then, in 72, Austin came out with the Ryan Scaravator, going from yellow and black in colour to the well-known green and yellow.

He ended up having taking out 40 patents in his lifetime and being awarded an OAM for innovations to agriculture, along with two International Ag awards.

What a fantastic story; thanks for sharing, Paul. Reply to dwaind@farmtender.com.au

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