Farmer builds back-saving picking machine

STOCKHOLM — Daniel Z. Martin didn't like what he saw when he imagined bending up and down for years to weed a row of carrots, cut asparagus or pick a basket of strawberries.

"Agriculture in America is dominated by cheap disposable backs," he said.

Once the back is gone, so is the farmer. Mr. Martin, who cultivates 15 acres of mixed vegetables for his family's Martin's Roadside Stand on Route 11B, can't afford to let his back go.

So, with help from members of his family, he built a back-saving, a three-wheeled motorized basswood picking machine on which he lies face-down and drives with his legs.

"It don't look like much, but there is a couple of thousand in this already, let alone all the failed attempts," he said. "That's peanuts compared to a bad back."

The picking machine, built to pass over Mr. Martin's standard 7-foot rows, is powered by wheelchair motors and electronic controllers. He's put a lot of thought into whether a particular board should swivel and where a pillow should go so his neck doesn't strain.

A harvest box hangs underneath so Mr. Martin can mosey down a row, a serrated knife in his hand, slicing off asparagus spears while one of his four children lolls on a board next to him.

"They ride with me a lot," Mr. Martin said. "Sometimes, it's piled full of them."

At the end of a row, Mr. Martin lifts one leg and the machine does a neat pivot.

The design of the picker is his own, but Mr. Martin said similar machines are sold in Europe.

He bought a foot-pedaled crop cart that put him in much the same position as a recumbent bicycle, but didn't like how it maneuvered in loose dirt and sent it back.

He would have been happier to buy a ready-made machine than build one and would gladly still give up his rights.

"If someone saw it and patented it, I could just go buy one," he said. "It never pays to make what you can buy if the design does what you want."

The picking machine isn't Mr. Martin's first foray into custom work. He has a handmade motorized cultivator and has built other prototypes, but relies on others to help him with skills he lacks, such as welding.

"There's very few things in life that happened by one person by themselves," Mr. Martin said.

He's not the only one in his family of 10 siblings to make good on ideas. His brother, Luray Z. Martin, designed and built a solar-powered greenhouse that uses recycled-water-filled barrels for thermal conduction. His father, Luke, is a tinkerer and inventor. Another relative designed and built a pea-shelling machine when the family lived in southeastern Pennsylvania.

"Mennonites like peas. We have a lot of Mennonite culture in us," he said.

One of Mr. Martin's next ideas is to expand on the produce stand.

"Food processing fascinates me. Where can you buy stuff that's a little more processed, but that's local?" he said. "I can see the stand turning into a full-fledged store with freezer cases, but with emphasis on food that is locally produced. There's some slight chance we'll bite that off in the future."