Growing wild rice in Northern Minnesota requires a lot of hard work, patience and, at times, some special-built equipment. It grows so tall that any wind or other adverse weather condition often results in a downed or tangled crop.

"Conventional add-on pickup fingers help somewhat during harvest but they often dig into the ground and break off. They were so long they sometimes shatter the crop before it even gets to the cutterbar," says Joseph Figliuzzi, Kelliher, Minn., who finally decided he had to come up with something new.

He started experimenting with shorter lift guards and was surprised to find they worked better than long ones since plants were only disturbed up close to the cutterbar.

That's when he hit on he idea of combining the functions of conventional sickle guards with pickup fingers. His prototypes worked so well he patented - and is now prepared to license for manufacture - a new product called LIFTGUARDS™.

"They eliminate all the problems with conventional lifting fingers and even improve performance in standing crops so you never have to take them off," says Figliuzzi. "I've been testing them under all kinds of conditions in my own fields over the past four years and their performance has far exceeded my expectations. Yields increase because I get more grain into the combine."

One way Figliuzzi tested his idea was by fitting half of a cutterbar with LIFTGUARDS and leaving leaving half with conventional sickle guards. "Results were fantastic. The rice that came through the conventional guards would continually bunch up and move unevenly into the machine while the other half with LIFTGUARDS fed in smoothly and evenly.

"Watching grain flow evenly over the LIFTGUARDS reminds me of wind tunnel tests that manufacturers use to test aerodynamics, where you see air flow smoothly over a car or airplane wing. That's what happens with LIFTGUARDS, even under good field conditions. They aid the flow of grain and crop material into the combine in a natural way that causes less shattering to stalks."

Figliuzzi feels certain his LIFTGUARDS will also improve performance in crops such as soybeans, canola, wheat and other small grains, but he has not yet tested them in those crops. "Farmers who've seen LIFTGUARDS say they think they might eliminate the need for pickup fingers on reels since they lift the crop up high enough for batts alone to bring in the crop."

Figliuzzi is looking for a manufacturer to bring LIFTGUARDS to market. He has received his Canadian patent and the U.S. patent is pending.