What farmer hasn't created something to make his work easier?
Usually he keeps his labor-saving device a secret, but Scott Knutson, a wheat, soybean and sugar beet farmer from the Crookston area, markets his inventions.
Around 13 years ago Knutson and his brother Curtis started KB Manufacturing LLC. Through this company, they market a number of products they have developed. "The focus is how to make an operation easier to perform and more productive for the producer," Knutson said.
Knutson's educational background prepared him to be president of his small business. While still in high school, he completed a two-year electronics course at an area vocational school. He then enrolled at North Dakota State School of Science in Wahpeton, where he studied industrial electronics. After graduating, he completed a farm business management course at Northland Technical College.
Knutson has always been interested in how things operate. "When I was young, I had gotten a new bike and, of course, I had to take it apart to see how it all worked."
Unlike some children who would have left the bike for Dad to reassemble, Knutson did the work himself. "It took much longer to get back together again than to take it apart," he admitted.
Moving 15-gallon returnable chemical containers led to the invention of KB's latest product, a solar-powered lift. Moving the 210-pound containers required two people unless they used a loader.
"I wanted something that would be quick to use and did not require starting an engine," Knutson said. "When I decided it would be powered by electricity, I did not want to have it be plugged into a charger. I placed a solar panel above the lift that will charge the unit in 1 1/2 hours under shop lighting or in the sun."
One person can operate the lift. Knutson sees using this self-contained unit in many applications and locations.
"With the products I put together, I like to use them on the farm for a year and see if any changes are needed before marketing them." In the nine months Knutson has used the lift on his farm, he hasn't found any changes that should be made.
Several of KB's products help during planting season. For example, planter windshields protect insecticide placement from wind during planting. A sugar beet yield monitor tracks sugar beet weight when harvesting.
At its convention in Seattle, The American Farm Bureau Federation recognized Knutson's solar-powered lift as one of 15 Farm Idea Exchange winners in the United States.
For information on the lift and other products, log on to www.rrv.net/kbmfg.
Economy/Tech
Scott Knutson - Farmer, inventor, small businessman
Originally published in the May 28, 2010, print edition.
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