News Hero in Agriculture: Keith Elwick receives award from Silos & Smokestacks

Keith Elwick of Vinton, the founder of the Hawk Bilt company that employed many area residents for years, will "forever hold an innovator's place in agricultural history."

Elwick received the first-ever Golden Silo Award for Heroes in American Agriculture from the Silos and Smokestacks organization during a banquet in Cedar Falls on Wednesday.

The Heroes award honors an individual, organization, business, agency, or local government who has been a catalyst to revolutionize the industry of agriculture. By doing just what they did, they changed the way we feed the world.

Below is a list of Elwick's accomplishments which earned him the award, along with the unusual story about one of Elwick's most significant inventions -- an improved manure spreader. The audience learned this history when Elwick received his award.

This year’s first‐ever Hero in American Agriculture awardee exemplifies the  meaning of this recognition. His farm equipment innovations changed the daily lives of farmers around the world; always thinking of ways to make life easier for farmers.

Named as one of the 150 Iowans who made a difference in agricultural progress by the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation in 1996, he lays claim to being the first to build a commercial large round baler. As we heard earlier, Keith Elwick, founded Hawk Bilt, where these first balers rolled off the line just a short 30 miles south of here in Vinton, Iowa.

Keith and his younger brother Ron found early inspiration at the WMT  Farm  Gadget Show at the Iowa  State  Fair. An annual event that gave famers a chance to show their labor saving ideas in competition with each other and have them judged. Noting that, “winning first place a few times did help keep our interest.”

One of the ideas was a manure spreader that had a large rotating blade at one end of the box and a conveyor chain to move the manure into the fan. Everything was fine, except the manure was thrown so high into the air that it often came down on the tractor and driver.

The idea was a total failure and the spreader was parked in a corner and  forgotten, until one day when Ron was asked by their mother to clean out the chicken house. To spice things up, he hooked up the tractor to the abandoned spreader and proceeded to clean the chicken house. He was driving parallel to the road while spreading and evidently put on quite an aerial show, when a freelance photographer happened by. These photos were later published in Popular Mechanics magazine. Ron never mentioned the activity to him and never saw the article; however a young chief product engineer from John Deere did see it.

The following winter, a John Deere patent attorney knocked on their door and asked to learn more about the manure spreader. This eventually lead to Deere’s buying the patent rights to the spreader and doing the patent work and paying some royalty. Later versions of this manure spreader were used internationally, and received two awards from Queen Elizabeth II during the Royal Farm Show in London. The first medal was for the best new farm implement of the year. And, the second was for outstanding implement. It was the first time an American manufacturer had received the honor.

And so began a 30 year history of ag innovations in partnership with companies like John Deere, New Holland, Vermeer, and Ralston Purina. For his inventions including cattle oiler, insecticide applier, salt feeders and “Air Drive,” Keith will forever hold an innovator’s place in ag equipment history.

Keith’s family in attendance today is a testament to the strong family unit that has played a significant role in his life and success. Keith often says, “A lot of life is just plain good luck and the best luck I had was to have had great parents and family. Then finding Janet (his wife) and rearing our great family.”

I think we, all of us here today, can all agree we are the lucky ones for your contributions to agricultural progress and our community. Please join me in recognizing Keith Elwick as the 2012 Hero in American Agriculture.

Other honorees included:

Outstanding Interpretation

New this year, the award honors a Partner Site who has shown excellence in interpreting the story of American agriculture

· Dan McFarland, Hawkeye Buffalo Ranch, Fredericksburg, IA

Alan Hutchings Outstanding Visionary

Honors an individual, organization, business, agency or local government who has shown sustained support for the Heritage Area for more than five years, created a legacy in heritage development and provided leadership in the heritage development movement.

· Ice House Museum, Cedar Falls, IA

Outstanding Preservation in Agriculture

Honors an individual, organization, project, business, agency or local government who has made an extraordinary effort in preserving the icons to the story of American agriculture.

· Hartman Reserve Nature Center, Cedar Falls, IA

Outstanding Partner

Honors an organization, institution or individual who has shown support and partnered with SSNHA on numerous occasions to create awareness for the Heritage Area.

· Geof Grimes, SSNHA Board of Trustees, Waterloo, IA

Amanda Schwartz, National Farm Toy Museum, Dyersville, IA

Outstanding Volunteer(s)

Honors an individual or organization who has given tirelessly to SSNHA.

· Jenison Meacham Memorial Art Farm & Museum, Belmond, IA

People’s Choice “Site of the Year”

Honors a SSNHA Partner Site who has been voted for by the public to be their favorite “Site of the Year.” Finalists included Amana Heritage Society Museums, Amana Colonies, and University of Iowa Museum of Natural History, Iowa City.

To learn more about Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area, please visit www.silosandsmokestacks.org.