An award-winning farm innovation devised by three Leitrim students will feature in a new junior cycle textbook ‘Time for Business’ published by Edco, the Educational Company of Ireland.
The ‘Grasper’ was designed and made by Amy Keaveney, Freya Whitney and Alex O’Looney from Drumshanbo Vocational School to help farmers lift the lids of slatted tanks, boosting farm safety.
It won the junior category of the 21st Student Enterprise Programme national finals in Croke Park.
Alex was concerned when she saw her grandad bending down to try to open a slatted tank cover with his fingers and a pitchfork. She brought the matter to the group and the members all brainstormed to come up with a solution, which resulted in the ‘Grasper’ being developed by their company ‘Handled With Hearts’.
Grasper’s lift mechanism assists with the opening of slatted tank agitation covers. It saves the farmer or agricultural contractor the need to bend and lift the cover by hand and can also be used to close the cover afterwards.
The students sold handmade earrings and cupcakes to generate seed capital for the ‘Grasper’ which they sold all over the country through social media platforms.
“As winners of the Student Enterprise Programme national final, ‘Grasper’ is a great example of Irish students creating an innovative tool,” said Siobhán Greaney, senior project editor at Edco.
Asked why they chose to include the ‘Grasper’, Edco authors said the combination of usefulness and safety meant they thought it would be a brilliant example to use.
Edco
The Grasper “may inspire the next generation of students to come up with enterprising and innovative ideas of their own”, Siobhán said.
The Grasper will feature in the chapter on ‘the skills, characteristics and role of the entrepreneur.’
“The chapter explains to students what enterprise is and showcases inspiring Irish entrepreneurs. ‘Grasper’ is one of our ‘enterprise in action’ features that highlights innovative ideas,” Siobhán said.
The textbook has just been published and will bring the ‘Grasper’ to a big readership. Edco said it has over 50% market share for junior cycle business.
“It’s estimated that over three years, 114,000 are studying the subject at the moment, and ‘Time for Business’ is a hugely successful junior cycle package.
“The previous editions were used by thousands of students, and we’re confident that this new and updated edition will be equally popular,” the company stated.
The winning trio said: “We hope that our project inspires other students to participate in the Student Enterprise Programme and to think about farming and engineering products that can be useful to people in their day-to-day lives, thereby reducing farm accidents.
“We are still selling the ‘Grasper’ to people who spot it on social media. As the slurry season has started, our sales continue to increase especially through word of mouth from those looking for a safer method to open their slatted tank covers.”