A farmer on the Roseland is gaining nationwide attention after being shortlisted for a prestigious award.

David Carbis is down to the final five in the category of Machinery Innovator of the Year in the British Farming Awards.

He was encouraged to enter by staff at the Farmer’s Guardian and was thrilled to discover he’d made the shortlist.

David and his wife Pam will attend an awards ceremony in Worcester next month, where the winning innovator will be revealed.

He said: “I like to design machinery that will make a real difference to farming. As a one man band you are constantly trying to do as much as you can, as quickly as possible. Before I build a machine I know what it should do, how it should work and then I can visualise and build it.”

It was almost a decade ago when David realised that he could devise more efficient ways of working on his farm. As a result he designed his first project – a fencing machine - to use at Trenona Farm, based on the Roseland.

“I spent around four or five years playing with the idea for a fencing machine in my head. Prepping new fencing is very labour intensive and I just knew there had to be a better way of carrying out the job, so I designed my own machine,” he said.

The fencing machine places posts in the ground, knocks them into position and even rolls out the wire fencing. David is in the process of developing his idea for commercial sale.

The British Farming Awards are held each year to celebrate farmers who have shown innovation and determination in the face of increasing challenges in the industry. Hundreds of entries came in from afar afield as the Shetland Islands.

David’s second invention was a bale handler, which can handle two wrapped bales or three unwrapped bales at a time, rather than one. Also using it in conjunction with the patented Trenona wrapping system the time saving machine means a bale can be wrapped every 47-48 seconds, down from the usual 60 seconds it normally takes.

For farmers/contractors who are moving 20,000 to 30,000 bales of hay, silage or straw each year, that equates to a significant time saving.

David’s wife Pam said designing new farm machinery is a real passion for her husband. “I’ll often wake up in the early hours and he’ll still be outside welding away at 1am, or he’ll wake up and solve a problem he’s been pondering for some time and have to get up there and then to write it down.”

His third invention was a bag handler that stops the large, heavy bags from swinging or splitting, improves reach /lift height and stability. It has won other awards due to its safety features and LOLER Regulation compliance.

This isn’t the first time David has done well in national awards for his designs. He previously won an all-expenses paid trip to Germany after winning both his section and being crowned overall winner in the Farmers Weekly Farm Invention Competition.

“Even as a child I was pulling things apart and putting them back together. I get a lot of satisfaction out of making a prototype myself and seeing it working on the farm,” said David.

This year’s guest speaker at the British Farming Awards is rugby legend Phil Vickery MBE.

He said: “I am very much looking forward to the 2015 British Farming Awards and meeting some of fantastic people doing such a tremendous job for the British Farming Industry.”

David’s machinery is distributed by Alan Dennis of AMIA, based near Okehampton.