Award for innovative farm gate invention

Dave Crooks from Strainrite Fencing Systems with the Fieldays International Innovation Award winning Activator Strap.

Strainrite Fencing Systems is leading change at the farm gate with its new Activator Strap, after walking away with the top honour in the International Innovation Award category at the 2017 New Zealand Agricultural Fieldays.

Maurice Wooster from Strainrite Fencing Systems said the idea for the Activator Strap stemmed from many years of improving the widely used Electric Fence Activator System.

"One of our fencing specialists was setting up an electric fence gateway and was continually encountering broken fence activator installations. It dawned on him then that there had to be a better way," said Mr Wooster.

From there the Strainrite research and development team designed and produced rapid prototypes for testing before coming up with the insulated strap that wraps around the gate post, to create an offset for an electrified wire to accept gate handle hooks.

Judges were impressed with the simplicity of the design which they described as a clever, well-designed solution with the potential for significant time and cost savings, commenting that it's a wonder it hasn't been done before.

Following their win of the prestigious award at Fieldays, Strainrite Fencing Systems has had enquiries from a new international customer, as well as sales and requests for information from distribution networks domestically and internationally.

After a huge effort by the whole team the award means a great deal. Now the team has the honour of introducing their client base to the award winning Activator Strap.

"We entered knowing we were up against some serious competition on a global scale. To win such a prestigious award really pays tribute to staff and their dedication and team efforts," said Mr Wooster.

Fieldays received a total of 77 entries in this year's Innovation Awards, with 16 in the International Innovation Award category.

NZ National Fieldays Society CEO Peter Nation said the awards are about providing a platform to launch innovations to the next level in the advancement of the agricultural industry.

"Every year we see some great innovations at Fieldays and the Activator Strap has real potential in the fencing industry. We're really proud to have this platform to help Strainrite and all Innovation Award entrants go to the next level," said Mr Nation.