Award for Harrington destructor unit

The Harrington Seed Destructor won gold in the Smart Agriculture category at the recent Edison Awards in New York, giving international credit to inventor Ray Harrington for his 17 years of involvement in weed management technology.

Mr Harrington, who attended the ceremony, said the award was an acknowledgment of the threat of herbicide resistance to the long-term sustainability of agriculture around the globe.

On a recent trip across Canada and the US, it was obvious that herbicide resistance was not just a problem in Australia, Mr Harrington said.

"We are really starting to see the take up of harvest weed seed management in agriculture areas right around the world," he said.

"Using harvest weed seed management techniques is the key to solving this global problem.

"We can't leave any survivors. In the past, what we have been doing is spreading those survivors back out in the paddock.

"But if you get your weed management wrong at harvest, you've got a problem in the following year."

Mr Harrington said herbicide resistance issues could affect any farmer who used chemicals in the fight against weed control.

The Harrington Seed Destructor is exclusively engineered by de Bruin Engineering in Mt Gambier, and has been available for commercial purchase since 2012.

The Edison Awards, which has run since 1987, recognise innovation in more than 30 categories.

Named after Thomas Edison, who achieved 1093 US patents on new technologies, the awards recognise game-changing new products across the world.