Big dreams for a little forwarder

With a small log carrier that’s especially designed for Irish woodlands, Meath company Falcon has won the overall prize in the Innovation Arena awards at the National Ploughing Championships.

This award and the agri-engineering start-up award which it also collected at the championships, has given a major boost to the two-year-old company, which sold its first mini-Falcon forwarder in the summer.

“We have got a lot of media coverage which is very important for a young company like ours. We received a prize of €1,500, which will allow us showcase the Falcon at the UK farm machinery show, Lamma next year,” says director and co-founder Marcia Franklin.

The mini-forwarder is particularly useful for sensitive sites where low-impact extraction is required.

Ms Franklin says that up until now, forest companies and farmers in Ireland had been using forwarders which may have been too large, importing small forwarders and using quads and trailers which aren’t always suitable.

“The Falcon F40 forwarder can carry four tones, has a crane reach of 5.3 metres and is the only forwarder designed for Irish conditions,’’ says Ms Franklin, adding that it is also suitable for use in the UK and for use internationally in environmentally-sensitive sites and in small to medium hardwood plantations.

In 2011, Ms Franklin, a Bachelor of Agricultural Science, was running a consultancy when she heard that a local farmer was looking for a mini-forwarder suitable for use in private woodland. Deciding to make a switch to developing machinery, she renamed her company Falcon.

“I carried out a feasibility study, drew up a business plan and applied for Leader funding through the Meath Partnership,’’ reveals Ms Franklin.

Getting the go-ahead from Leader, she asked her husband, Darragh Hand of Hand Engineering to set out the technical requirements and design specifications. Falcon subcontracted the manufacture of the first machine, which was completed this year.

“The Falcon F40 mini forwarder was launched by MEP, Mairead Guinness in August, and we sold our first machine to a group of local farmers called the Falcon Cluster Group.’’

Although the Falcon F40 was first designed for Irish woodland, the company has also identified the UK market as a target market. Ms Franklin says the fact that it is more portable and smaller than many forwarders means it can be sold to any country which requires a forwarder for small and medium-sized forests and for environmentally-sensitive sites.

“This can be transported between forest sites at a more affordable cost than is traditionally associated with forestry machinery” adds Ms Franklin.

The market for forwarders in Ireland has been boosted by the increase in afforestation in recent years. “Private forest estate in fast becoming a considerable wood and energy resource,’’ says Ms Franklin, who aims to establish Falcon as the brand leading mini-forwarder in Ireland and the UK within five years.

She says that forest size in Ireland had increased to 11% of land area in 2011 and that recent figures show that there is a potential harvest of 876,000 sqm of wood which will require thinning.

Since the launch in August, “we have had inquiries from the UK, Austria and Canada,” says Ms Franklin.

The second Falcon F40 machine, which retails at €90,000 is now being manufactured by Hand Engineering. During the Ploughing Championships, Ms Franklin met with representatives from Enterprise Ireland who she hopes will help Falcon identify potential export markets. Part of the plan now is to apply for funding to help bring the company to the next level.

“We hope to sell 25 machines a year within a few years,’’ says Ms Franklin who has future plans for further Falcon products including a forest mini-harvester.