Terre Haute Farmers Introduce BOXMATE

BOXMATE is ingenuity on the farm

Through the years there has been a plethora of ingenuity happening on America’s farms. Add Indiana-based BOXMATE to the list, a product of Terre Haute, Indiana farmers who comprise Innovative Ag Systems. At Commodity Classic this year Tim Sarver gave HAT and a gathering crowd a quick demonstration of nesting and flipping a seed box with just one person at the BOXMATE controls.

“So you drive in with your forklift with the seed box into the BOXMATE. The self-guided arms align with the stopping plates at the back to make sure you stop at the right place. Hop off the forklift, latch it, raise the BOXMATE up, spin it and when it comes down the latch will release itself on that arm. Then you go back up and set it on the height restraint and you’re ready for the next box to flip. Easily flip 30 boxes in one hour with one man and a forklift.”

Not only does the work become a one-man job, but Sarver says increased safety on the job is a huge plus.

“Safety is so important no matter whether you’re a farmer or a retailer,” he said. “One injury and the insurance claims and the workmen’s comp claims from that injury can put a real cost dampener onto the farmer or to that business. Nobody can afford an injury. If it’s a farmer you can’t afford to be injured in the spring of the season when you’re handling seed boxes. Your time is too valuable. We’ve taken the heavy lifting and the awkward twisting from manually lifting seed boxes out of it with this product. So we’ve made a safe product that’s easy, simple to use and has a fit on a lot of operations.”

Marty and John Evans are part of the family effort to create, manufacture and patent BOXMATE, which retails for $3,995 and simply requires an air compressor. Hear more in the HAT interview:BOXMATE