Lake Forest, Calif. - Shark Wheel, the California-based company that has reinvented the standard wheel design, has unveiled a new partnership with Reinke Manufacturing Company.
This collaboration has been established to help farmers integrate Shark Wheel's unique design; this will be carried out through Reinke's nationwide sprinkler systems, which operate on wheels.
Shark Wheel's key invention is a sine-wave designed wheel, which avoids the aforementioned issues regarding ruts and flat tires. Furthermore, due to it being a non-pneumatic tire, it will never go flat. Through its newly unveiled partnership with Reinke, senior officials from Shark Wheel underline that this radical reinvention of the traditional wheel will be incorporated into farming systems across the country.
For instance, it presents the opportunity to integrate the Shark Wheel into Reinke's wheel-based sprinkler system, which currently irrigates farms in a variety of regions around the U.S.
This new partnership builds on the progress made by Shark Wheel that was facilitated by the fact that the firm won a government grant through the National Science Foundation beginning in January 2018. It subsequently won a Phase II grant in 2019 and a Phase IIb grant in 2021. After four years of extensive R&D and testing and many successes and failures along the way, Shark Wheel finally reached a successful iteration that solved the pain points of all farmers. Prior to this, the company received the FedEx Nationwide Small Business Grant in 2015.
After analyzing four years of irrigation wheel testing data, it was determined that Shark Wheel incidentally solved soil compaction, which plagues the majority of agriculture wheeled applications. Soil compaction can lead to issues such as blocked root growth. In addition to this, it can encourage erosion and hinders soil regeneration.
Excessive soil compaction can lead to a 20-50% reduction in farmers' yields. The sector has already faced widespread challenges in the past few years, such as the lingering economic after-effects of the pandemic, natural disasters and poor planting conditions. In 2019, farm debt hit an all-time high of $416 billion, and the COVID-19 crisis has significantly hindered the industry's recovery.
Shark Wheel is currently in late stage development on wheels for various tractors to solve soil compaction.
"We're delighted to have partnered with a firm with the stature and reach of Reinke, and we're excited that they share our vision to help enhance the irrigation sector as much as possible. Our unique wheel design, which was invented by David Patrick, solves a host of problems associated with traditional wheels. The more agricultural communities we can bring our design to, the more benefits we will be able to sow as a result of this partnership," said Zack Fleishman, Chief Executive Officer of Shark Wheel.