Manitoba Chamber of Commerce
Issue link: http://publications.winnipegfreepress.com/i/1528090
34 WINTER 2024 Bushel Plus is a harvest optimi- zation company based in Brandon that was established by founder and CEO Marcel Kringe in 2016. The company has gained attention worldwide for its SmartPan sys- tem that is designed to easily and accurately measure grain loss at harvest with any kind of combine and features a unique combina- tion of hardware and software components. LEAPING BEYOND LOCAL CONT. HARVESTING LESSONS FROM AROUND THE WORLD Kringe, who studied agronomy and agricultural engineering, start- ed Bushel Plus as a hobby while working full-time as agronomist for Cargill in Brandon and the Red River Valley. His original motivation was to "make life easier" for some farmer friends by coming up with a fast, safe, simple way to measure grain loss and boost yields. The system quickly caught on thanks to word of mouth in the Rules and regulations differ around the world, and it's important to pay attention to everything from different power plugs in other countries to mandatory certifications of equipment. Bushel Plus CEO Marcel Kringe was the Brandon Chamber of Commerce's Outstanding Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2022. farm community, and Kringe was suddenly receiving calls from farm- ers across Canada and as far away as Australia wanting to know how they could get their hands on the device. That led to him quitting his day job so he could devote himself full-time to his own business. Eight years later he is now ship- ping his product to 35 countries including the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Germany, England and Chile. And his company has gone from shipping a few individ- ual units at a time to transporting 40-foot Sea Can shipping contain- ers full of product at any given moment. Kringe says expanding his busi- ness internationally wasn't origi- nally part of his plan. "It wasn't really me that decided that. It was the customers that de- cided that. I got so many calls from the U.S. and Australia I finally said I guess we can ship to the U.S. and Australia," he says, laughing.