Farming innovation

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Pam Carbis and David Carbis of Trenona Farm and Alan Dennis of AMIA
Pam Carbis and David Carbis of Trenona Farm and Alan Dennis of AMIA

A farmer on the Roseland is gaining nationwide attention after being shortlisted for a national award.

David Carbis, of Trenona Farm, is down to the final five in the category of Machinery Innovator of the Year in the British Farming Awards.

He was encouraged to enter by staff at the Farmer’s Guardian and was delighted to discover he’d made the shortlist.

He said: “I like to design machinery that will make a real difference to farming. As a one-man band you are constantly trying to do as much as you can, as quickly as possible.”

Carbis came up with the idea for his first invention – a fencing machine – a decade ago.

“I spent around four or five years playing with the idea for a fencing machine in my head. Prepping new fencing is very labour intensive and I just knew there had to be a better way of carrying out the job, so I designed my own machine,” he said.

He has since followed this up with a bale handler, which can handle two wrapped bales or three unwrapped bales at a time; and a bag handler that stops the large, heavy bags from swinging or splitting.

Carbis, whose machinery is distributed by Alan Dennis of AMIA, based near Okehampton, added: “Even as a child I was pulling things apart and putting them back together. I get a lot of satisfaction out of making a prototype myself and seeing it working on the farm.”

The winners will be announced at a ceremony to be held in Worcester next month.