Photo: Cobus du Plessis
The competition aims to show off and celebrate innovative solutions that farmers have designed to make farm life and work a little easier.
The pair secured victories in four categories and earned two second-place finishes. Bertus Goosen, a farmer from Matlakeng, and his 17-year-old daughter, Nicolene, are stalwarts at the Boerepatente competition; Bertus has displayed his innovative farmers’ patents for two decades, and Nicolene has contributed her inventive designs for the past eight years.
In the modified machinery category, Gert van Tonder of Reitz won with his Elevator Cart, a lifting device designed to ease the task of working on tall installations.
The cart can lift up to 4m and operate for up to 15 hours on a 105Ah battery. Van Tonder also earned third place with his water-powered hydro pump, a mono water pump that uses river flow to turn a screw and pump water for livestock.
Johan de Jager of Gobabis secured second place with his adjustment washer for borehole cylinders, which extends the life of borehole pumps.
Nicolene triumphed in the electrical and non-electrical tools category with her air pressure jack.
Utilising her father’s old compressors, she connected a high-pressure pipe to a 2l soft plastic drink bottle with a non-return valve, creating a powerful lifting device capable of lifting objects of up to 4t.
Bertus won second place with a work clamp designed to hold and align iron or pipes for welding. De Jager took third place with a tool that simplifies saw blade sharpening using an angle grinder.
Bertus won the house and hearth category with his meatball maker, a device that forms minced meat into perfect meatballs using two flat pieces of aluminium with cavities.
Nicolene took second place with her bag filler, made from a 20l plastic drum to easily fill bags with items like maize.
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She also excelled in the open section with her hammer mill cover, a patent that reduces maize wastage during milling by using a piece of corrugated iron and a 20l drum.
Shirline de Kok of Vierfontein came second in the open section with her versatile Kombuishulp, a device for crushing garlic, cutting vegetables, and removing bottle caps.
Gys Botha came third in this category with his maize kernel tool, which helps remove kernels from corn cobs.
Young inventor Dawid de Wet of JJ van der Merwe Primary School in Ermelo repeated his success from last year, winning three prizes.
Last year, his design of a lever for easily opening and closing a slack wire gate earned him top honours in the school category.
He once again displayed his talents, winning with his Track Master, and securing second and third places with his Livestock Master and Gate Master Plus, respectively.
Grain SA awarded a participation prize to Lourens Jacobs of Secunda, a student at North-West University in Potchefstroom. Lourens earned recognition for his innovative stubble hoe and chainsaw log splitter.
The commercial prize went to Ferdi Bouwer of Pretoria for his Polecat, a tamper-proof gate motor secured in an upright steel container with cement, making it theft resistant.
This event once again highlighted the remarkable ingenuity and practical solutions of these resolute farmers and inventors, highlighting their contributions to agricultural innovation.
