The winner of the Golden Standard was Technipharm for "Irrisafe™", an irrigation shut-off system.

Kevin Smith said he had been working on the project for two years, and with some enouragement from Technipharm chief executive Harmen Heesen had the innovation ready to showcase at this year’s Fieldays.

“I am just rapt with the response we have been getting from farmers. They are impressed that the design is just so simple,” Mr Smith said.

Lincoln University student Ben Shannon won Young Inventor of the Year for his Concertina Crate, which allows for ease of use on the back of a truck.

The Innovation competition has been held annually for 38 years, and had around 70 entries this year.

Chairman of the Innovation Centre Tony Smith said several of this year’s entries are proposed commercial products born out of inventions first unveiled through past year’s competitions.

“We have at least six inventions entered into the Innovation Competition this year that were inventions first made public through our competitions in years past. These six inventions have real promise and their inventors are at the stage of launching their products and looking for partners or investors to help grow their business,” Mr Smith said.

“It’s been great to see entrants who have utilised the resources provided through the Fieldays competition to take an idea through to a commercial product. That’s what this competition is all about and this year’s entrants prove its working.”

It was revealed that 50 per cent of Fieldays exhibitors launched an innovative product or service at Fieldays this year – great news for the future of the Innovations competition.

INNOVATIONS COMPETITION WINNERS:

Golden Standard Winner: Technipharm for ‘Irrisafe ™’

Inventions Merit Award: Craig Short for ‘Stockfirm’

Equipment of the Year Award: ADF Milking for ‘ADF Milking’

Equipment Merit Award: Andrew Horn for ‘RealPro Clamp’

James & Wells Award: Phillip MacDonald for ‘Ride Over Gate’

Premier Feature Merit Award: Jonathan White and Sam Ashley for ‘Stomp Out Stompage’

Young Inventor of the Year: Ben Shannon for ‘Concertina Crate’