Rahco Ag Systems LLC, a subsidiary of Spokane-based Rahco International Inc., has developed a new leveling system thats designed to be used with John Deere combines and is intended to appeal to Midwest farmers.


Richard Hanson, president of Rahco International, says the new leveling system is designed to be effective on more gradually inclined slopes, such as those on some Midwest farms, as opposed to Rahcos long-time leveling system used to harvest crops on the steep hillsides of Pacific Northwest farms.


Rahco had a couple of prototypes of the new product, called the Sidehill Leveling System, working in the field last year, and has begun selling the units this year.


The new product, at $30,000, is about half the price of Rahcos established leveling system, says Dennis Solbrack, product support manager of Colfax, Wash.-based Arrow Machinery Inc., which handles sales and marketing of the leveling systems for Rahco.


Also, the Sidehill system is assembled as a kit so a John Deere dealership can put it together and install it on site. With the established leveler, a combine must be sent to the Rahco plant or to Arrow Machinery, where the system is installed.


We are tending to put more emphasis on a repeatable product (like the Sidehill) rather than project type of work, Hanson says.


While the new product is less expensive, the market for it is much larger. Solbrack estimates that about 75 leveling systems are sold in the Midwest each year, compared with a total market of between 20 and 35 units sold in the Northwest annually. Hanson says Rahco hopes to have 75 percent of the total market in the Midwest within the next two years. It currently has a similar market share with its products in the Northwest.


Solbrack says the market for the new product has the potential to be much larger than that. He says the new Sidehill attachment can be install on four models of John Deere combines, whereas earlier generations of leveling systems that John Deere made itself only attached to one model of combine.


Also, Solbrack says he expects the new leveling system to appeal to some Northwest farmers as well.


Rahco has been an exclusive maker of leveling systems for John Deere in the Northwest for about 15 years, Hanson says. He says Rahco doesnt have an exclusive agreement with its Sidehill product, but it currently is the only such product John Deere has approved to be added to its combines.


Rahco also makes large machinery used in a number of industries, including mining and construction. Hanson says agricultural equipment sales account for a small part of the companys overall revenues, but its an important part of the companys business.


The leveler, he says, is something we pioneered. Its our heritage.


Contact Linn Parish at (509) 344-1266 or via e-mail at linnp@spokanejournal.com.