Grainswest - Tech 2022

Tech 2022 Grains West 22 L ike his hero Henry Ford, Vermilion- area farmer, entrepreneur and self- taught mechanical engineer Danny Farkash aspires to reinvent existing machines and make them better. This past spring, GrainsWest visited the sprawling farmyard where he operates the thriving ironworks division of Noralta Farms and works on numerous side projects such as a portable sawmill operation and biodiesel factory. Farkash clattered up the grated stairs to the top deck of his latest and most spectacular device, a wood-fired plastic fencepost maker fed with used grain bags. He tells the story of its three-year construction process and used parts procurement with infectious enthusiasm. Nearing completion with a flurry of recent alterations, it is now in its fifth iteration. With it, Farkash intends to manufacture the cheapest plastic fenceposts on the market—posts that are durable yet can be sawed and stapled just like their wooden counterparts. A cross between a wild vehicle from Mad Max and a circus cannon meant to blast acrobats high above the crowd, the machine is largely made of iron piping of various diameters. Despite its fantastical appearance, it is deceptively practical and elegantly simple to operate, a credit to Farkash’s engineering process. Equally impressive is the commitment to recycling it represents. “For good or bad, all of this is made of scrap,” he said. At heart, Farkash is a problem solver. This machine built of repurposed parts FEATURE Recycled materials are the heart of inventor’s creative process THE HENRY FORD OF FENCEPOSTS BY KELLY-ANNE RIESS PHOTOS BY ZOLTAN VARADI Seen here in the control shed for his fencepost maker, farmer and inventor Danny Farkash is a born problem solver.