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As far as small-town family-owned ag
tech business Greentronics Ltd. goes, it
has a precision ag tool to make the global
market blush with envy.
Although the company’s auto tilt controller, conveyor
scale and yield monitor products continue to be key
contributors to the company’s continued growth, its
RiteHeight
product has become Greentronics’ single-
most important and popular product in North America
and around the world.
The beauty of the RiteHeight is that it keeps a sprayer’s
booms automatically at a consistent height. This
reduces the need for manual height adjustments in
hilly terrain and minimizes the risk of boom contact
with the ground.
“From the start,” explained
Bill Menkveld
, Sales &
Admin. for Greentronics, “our goal for this product was
to have a system that most sprayer owners would feel
comfortable installing themselves.”
“This meant designing a system without a requirement
for additional hydraulics, but one that could be
installed by connecting directly with the sprayers’ own
factory-installed hydraulic boom valves,” he continued.
“By going in this direction, we ensured that the system
would only require a few components and be quick
and straightforward to install.”
“Most importantly,” added Menkveld, “we could set a
price point that made the system attractive even for
sprayers with a relatively low value due to age or type.”
Greentronics was conceived in 1994 when agricultural
equipment distributor
Jake Kloosterman Equipment
Ltd.
asked brothers Bill and Bert Menkveld to design
an automatic tilt controller for potato harvesters. These
harvesters must maintain a level position in hilly fields
to provide better dirt separation with less product
damage.
New partnership in hand, Bert Menkveld began
to work on developing an automatic boom height
controller for sprayers in 1995.
Designed around sonar sensors he had created
previously, prototypes of the
RH100
system were
installed on various sprayers in local fields for testing.
However, owing to another commitment with
Kloosterman Equipment, the Menkvelds had to put the
boom height controller on hold. Instead, they used the
time to develop a yield monitor for root crop harvesting
equipment. This work led to a new product release in
1997.
Menkveld remembers being busy with production
and sales during ‘98 and ‘99. Yield mapping and data
analysis, however, required fast computers, special
software, and experienced professionals. All three
GETTING HEIGHT RIGHT
WITH
RITEHEIGHT
Precision tech for sprayer booms keeps things at a consistent
height even when the terrain gets wonky
MATHEW MACDONALD
FARMS.COM
“MOST IMPORTANTLY, WE COULD SET A
PRICE POINT THAT MADE THE SYSTEM
ATTRACTIVE EVEN FOR SPRAYERS
WITH A RELATIVELY LOW VALUE DUE
TO AGE OR TYPE.”