A seeding machine developed in North America was yesterday announced as the winner of the annual title.

The Morris Industries RAZR Disc Drill sells for $172,000 and has been on the market since March.

It was entered by distribution company McIntosh & Son.

The farmer-inspired disc drill can place seeds in the ground and fertilise them more efficiently.

McIntosh & Son representative Michael McCormick said the disc drill provided better penetration and ground following, as well as excellent seed to soil contact.

Mr McCormick said the machine had a walking beam design that created weight transfer onto a disc blade allowing for added penetration.

“The walking beam is particularly unique,” Mr McCormick said.

“No other machine of this type has it.”

He said he thought it was the best disc machine on the market.

“It works in all conditions and when the ground is really hard it’s still quite simple to use,” he said.

“You need to sow when you need to sow and it’s critical to do it in the right window and this machine helps.”

He said the machine was designed to be robust but cheap to run.

The competition was judged by Machine of the Year chairman Matt Bergmeier, grain growers Andrew Alexander and Mark Bowyer of Lockhart, and Warren Scheetz of Culcairn.

They spent nine hours on Monday deciding which machine would win.

“It was a difficult choice because there were many different designs,” Mr Bergmeier said.

He said in many cases the winning machine went on to become a standard piece of equipment on Australian farms.

“A win at Henty gives the entrant valuable exposure for their product,” he said.