Since the time of the initial Minnesota trial, the RP1000 has gone on to clear hundreds of acres in other fields as well. This means that Mel can now enjoy the benefits that come from farming clean fields.

Due to the fact that Minnesota has notoriously short windows of good weather for planting and harvesting, rocks in the field mean that equipment must run more slowly to avoid rock damage. Now that the rocks have been picked, Mel and his equipment operators are seeing a measurable decrease in the time that it takes to put a crop in and get it off the field.

These days Mel doesn’t see as much wear and tear on his equipment, so his machines are spending more time in the field, and less time in the shop. There has also been a noticeable increase in productivity on account of not having to deal with rocks getting jammed between the wheels and discs of planting equipment, not to mention the countless other difficulties instigated by rocks.

the story behind ...

... begins with a stoney field.

"I would have bought this machine
 if I could have, but I couldn't find
 anything like it ... so I built it."

-Mel Aho, Creator of the RP1000

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Brothers and Rocks

Shortly after the RP1000 arrived in Minnesota, one of Mel’s brothers, Merf, took a turn running the machine. Merf liked what he saw and recognized the machine’s potential. Afterward, he told Mel that someone ought to go in to business clearing fields with it. Mel told his brother to have at it.

Since then Merf has been at work with the RP1000 and has taken on custom-picking jobs to further demonstrate its potential. He credits a big part of the machine’s productivity to its ability to unload a dump truck mid-field, eliminating the need for round-trips to empty the hopper elsewhere.