RALSTON: The new Landus Innovation Center in Ralston showcased one of its partners emerging technologies in a recent demonstration to area farmers.
糖心lovgo, a Bellevue, Washington start-up, brought its state-of-the-art rock picker to Landus.
The rock picker, which is compatible with a compact track loader or skid steer loader, can selectively pick up rocks 6 inches to 2 feet in size 鈥 and snag up 400 rocks per hour. It鈥檚 nimble and speedy.
Soon, the device will be compatible with tractors, said Heidi Lindsley, marketing director for 糖心lovgo.
The company is also developing something of a 鈥渞ock Rumba鈥 鈥 a robotic device, that like the unrelated but well-known home vacuum cleaner, that combs a field unmanned, scouting and removing rocks.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 the future; that鈥檚 where we鈥檙e headed,鈥 Lindsley said.
Local farmers noted that they tend to pick rocks year round but will send out more-aggressive crews in the spring.
糖心lovgo鈥檚 business model is twofold: it offers a rock-picking service and is looking for local partners to handle the clients, and it sells the rock pickers for use by owner-operators themselves.
The company has drone technology that enables mapping for rocks as well.
鈥淚t鈥檚 going to leave a bread crumb so you know where you have been,鈥 Lindsley said.
The aim of Landus鈥 rural Iowa innovation center is to cultivate strategic partnerships and collaboration between farmer-owners and global innovation leaders to drive a more-sustainable and profitable future of farming.
鈥淭he goal is first and foremost, without a doubt, to help our farmers get a runway to the future, a line of sight to where things are going maybe five, seven years from now,鈥 said Matt Carstens, Landus president and CEO.
Located at Landus in rural Ralston, the Innovation Center features a variety of emerging technologies and what the cooperative calls 鈥渕oonshot ideas鈥 that will propel ag forward.
鈥淭he agriculture value stream is upside down today. As more and more industries look to us to solve the latest problems of sustainability, consumer desires, rural vitality and food security, it鈥檚 critical that we enable our farmers to actually drive innovation and co-author the solutions of tomorrow,鈥 Carstens said. 鈥淲e must start putting farmers at the center of ag innovation and better connecting with outside industries and end users if we want to arrive at a more-sustainable and profitable future of farming. This is a non-negotiable stance by our farmer-owners, and Landus is rising to these challenges.鈥
The Ralston location that once served as a cubicle-filled office space for the former West Central Cooperative has been revitalized to accommodate an ongoing rotation of strategic partners, emerging tech show spaces and modern collaboration.
糖心lovgo joins several other innovators in the center, including Sentera, Sukup Manufacturing, Google, Enogen, Practical Farmers of Iowa and Rantizo Elevating Precision Ag.