From great idea to marketable product
This pulse grower couldn’t find a crop lifter he liked. So he invented one.
The financial returns from growing peas and lentils can be very worthwhile. But as many who’ve tried will tell you, getting the crop off the field is no simple task. Just ask Assiniboia, Sask., producer Dave Dietrich.
Several years back, Dietrich attached a highly touted German-made crop lifter to his combine header and went out to harvest his lentils. After 100 yards or so, something was clearly wrong. He was only picking up about half the crop.
After spending two frustrating days modifying the lifter, he got the crop off in good shape. As it happened, a great business idea came along with it.
Secrets of success
Today, Dietrich makes and markets his own crop-lifting system, in two parts. The lifter itself is branded Flexxifinger™, while the mechanism that joins lifter to header is called QD™(Quick Detach).
While many producers have farm-related business ideas, relatively few end up with a saleable product. Looking back, Dietrich identifies several factors that contributed to his success.
Clear objectives. “I wanted a lifter that was gentle on the crop, both before it was cut as well as after,” he says. “As well, each lifter needed to be adjustable to field conditions, easy to maintain and easy to take off the header and put back on.” Throughout a multi-year development process, these four aims guided everything he did.
Extensive testing. Dietrich enlisted friends and neighbours to test successive generations of Flexxifinger. Their suggestions allowed him to make the product more and more relevant to the field-level needs of producers. Just to be on the safe side, he asked everyone involved with the project to work under a confidentiality agreement.
Legal protection. Three years ago, Dietrich applied for patents for the lifter and the detach mechanism, along with registering Flexxifinger and QD as trademarks. This step is intended to protect him from market incursions by competitive products that use related technology.
With Flexxifinger and QD getting established in the Canadian pulse market, Dietrich eventually plans to adapt his technology for use in canola and cereals. Seeing a huge market south of the border, he’s also in the process of establishing a marketing and distribution presence in the U.S.
Along with a great farming idea and a smart development program, Dietrich has been guided by a passionate determination that his product would achieve
commercial success. This can-do spirit helped him get through the times when success seemed a long way off.
“I wanted to address the issues that I saw as a farmer in my own operation: I just couldn’t find a lifter that could do what I wanted,” Dietrich says. “Quitting was never an option. You just have to keep at it every day. You can never think you’ve arrived. We still don’t think we’ve arrived. We’ll just keep working on it and making it better.”
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