“Pine Bine” Turns Needles Into Mulch

2020 - Volume #44, Issue #5, Page #16

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Pine straw is a popular, long-lasting mulch, and an annual crop that can add income while waiting for pine trees to mature for harvest. The problem has been the lack of mechanization for havesting it.
The Pine Bine, developed by five North Carolina State University engineering students, takes care of the most labor-intensive part of harvesting longleaf pine needles - removing cones, twigs and debris to produce clean, marketable mulch.
Like a combine, the Pine Bine uses conveyors and a fan, says Ben Cranfill, one of the student engineers, who have all graduated. The pine straw - either unrolled from a bale or pitchforked loose into the machine - is loaded on a conveyor. The straw goes through a doffer (a rotating cylinder with tines) that fluffs up and spreads out the straw before it falls onto a faster conveyor that spreads it out in a thin, even layer. The straw then moves over an airstream that blows the clean straw up and over an adjustable baffle and onto another conveyor, and the sticks, cones, and debris fall into a separate pile.
Since building a prototype in 2018, Cranfill and the other engineering graduates, Ben Cauthen, Alex Greeson, Will Marsh and Matthew Parker, formed Innovative Agricultural Technologies, and are working on finetuning the patent-pending Pine Bine for production.
It’s something the members of the NC Pine Needle Producers Association have suggested as a project for years, Cauthen says.
“We are ag engineers and saw a problem we could solve,” Cranfill says.
Many producers have 500 to 4,000 acres of longleaf pine or loblolly pine trees.
“Good stands yield 100 to 200 square bales of pine straw per acre per year. It takes crews of 40 plus people to get 2,000 bales/day,” Parker says. With the Pine Bine it takes a lot fewer workers to bale the same amount.
Some labor is still needed to rake or blow the pine needles from under the trees into windrows. But much of the operation can be mechanized with a round baler picking up the needles along with any sticks and debris, and then running the round bales through the Pine Bine and conveying the cleaned needles to a small square baler.
The partners continue to work with producers to customize pine straw harvesting equipment, such as designing a small cleaner that can be pulled through the pine trees. They are also working with an equipment manufacturer that builds niche equipment to bring their designs to market.
The Pine Bine has earned awards including the best agricultural senior design project of 2018 in the AGCO National Student Design Competition in Detroit as well as the 2020 People’s Choice Award in the American Farm Bureau Federation’s Ag Innovation Challenge in Austin, Texas.
The five partners have other jobs but hope to continue designing innovative agricultural equipment to meet regional producers’ needs through their company, Innovative Agricultural Technologies, LLC.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Innovative Agricultural Technologies, LLC, 272 Ring Rd., Carthage, N.C. 28327 (ph 910 639-8115; www.pinebine.com; customer-support@pinebine.com).

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“Pine Bine” Turns Needles Into Mulch COMBINES Miscellaneous Pine straw is a popular long-lasting mulch and an annual crop that can add income while waiting for pine trees to mature for harvest The problem has been the lack of mechanization for havesting it The Pine Bine developed by five North Carolina State University engineering students takes care of the most labor-intensive part of harvesting longleaf pine needles - removing cones twigs and debris to produce clean marketable mulch Like a combine the Pine Bine uses conveyors and a fan says Ben Cranfill one of the student engineers who have all graduated The pine straw - either unrolled from a bale or pitchforked loose into the machine - is loaded on a conveyor The straw goes through a doffer a rotating cylinder with tines that fluffs up and spreads out the straw before it falls onto a faster conveyor that spreads it out in a thin even layer The straw then moves over an airstream that blows the clean straw up and over an adjustable baffle and onto another conveyor and the sticks cones and debris fall into a separate pile Since building a prototype in 2018 Cranfill and the other engineering graduates Ben Cauthen Alex Greeson Will Marsh and Matthew Parker formed Innovative Agricultural Technologies and are working on finetuning the patent-pending Pine Bine for production It’s something the members of the NC Pine Needle Producers Association have suggested as a project for years Cauthen says “We are ag engineers and saw a problem we could solve ” Cranfill says Many producers have 500 to 4 000 acres of longleaf pine or loblolly pine trees “Good stands yield 100 to 200 square bales of pine straw per acre per year It takes crews of 40 plus people to get 2 000 bales/day ” Parker says With the Pine Bine it takes a lot fewer workers to bale the same amount Some labor is still needed to rake or blow the pine needles from under the trees into windrows But much of the operation can be mechanized with a round baler picking up the needles along with any sticks and debris and then running the round bales through the Pine Bine and conveying the cleaned needles to a small square baler The partners continue to work with producers to customize pine straw harvesting equipment such as designing a small cleaner that can be pulled through the pine trees They are also working with an equipment manufacturer that builds niche equipment to bring their designs to market The Pine Bine has earned awards including the best agricultural senior design project of 2018 in the AGCO National Student Design Competition in Detroit as well as the 2020 People’s Choice Award in the American Farm Bureau Federation’s Ag Innovation Challenge in Austin Texas The five partners have other jobs but hope to continue designing innovative agricultural equipment to meet regional producers’ needs through their company Innovative Agricultural Technologies LLC Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Innovative Agricultural Technologies LLC 272 Ring Rd Carthage N C 28327 ph 910 639-8115; www pinebine com; customer-support@pinebine com

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