Darkan agriculture inventor honoured

A pioneering agricultural inventor, whose machines are in day-to-day use across Australia, has been awarded one of WA farming’s highest honours — an induction into the Agricultural Hall of Fame.

Ray Harrington, 72, is probably Australia’s most prolific and versatile inventor of farm machinery, almost all of which is in day-to-day use across the country.

During the past five decades, he has demonstrated extraordinary skills to combat real problems in WA’s two major agricultural segments, sheep and cropping, and his solutions were quickly taken up nationally and internationally.

In the sheep industry, his name appears on the Harrington Crutching Cradle, the Harrington Sheep Jetting Race and the Harrington Vee Sheep Handling Machine, all familiar devices for improving efficiency and reducing physical work in the husbandry of animals.

Similarly, in cropping, Agmaster Harrington No-Till points have been a major factor in ecologically-sustainable cultivation of soil and the Harrington Seed Destructor is now a viable component of integrated pest management options worldwide for reducing reliance on chemical herbicides.

The breadth of his contributions and the practicality of these machines is unparalleled in State and Australian agriculture.

Mr Harrington was unveiled as the Agricultural Hall of Fame’s latest member at a ceremony held by the Royal Agricultural Society of WA today.

Read the full story in this Thursday’s Countryman.