04/08/05 The tour of the Stinger

It is not exactly the American debut. The machine dubbed the Aturas Stinger appeared at the recent World Ag Expo in Tulare California. But it will soon get an American tour, complete with stops in the Pacific Northwest and Northern California. ZEHNDER: We're working with Vine-Tech Equipment, who will be doing the demos with us. We've decided on the week of April 18th and May 9th at this point and time. That's Claude Zehnder. He works for Lyle Petroleum in Grandview Washington and is a member of the Propane Education and Research Council. And he is among those in the Council spearheading the demonstrations of the Australian based technology here in the United States. ZEHNDER: We brought this machine over to try to help in the organic industry. We thought that this was a good product for that & for weed cultivation for organic. It's been approved in the cultivation of organic grapes and orchards. The reason for the buzz about the Aturas Stinger is its ability to kill weeds without using fire or chemicals. ZEHNDER: The thermal weed machine uses steam at about 800 degrees. And what it does is it disrupts the cell on the weed, killing it. And it helps in the cultivation. Instead of doing tractor cultivation, it's steam cultivation. And Zehnder says there has been some pre-cultivation work going on this week, preparing some areas for show prior to the demonstrations. The goal of the coalition promoting the Aturas Stinger is just that & to drum up interest. ZEHNDER: Hopefully, we can find some people like Vine-Tech Equipment who will be interested in selling the machine both in the Northwest and in other states, where we can bring the machine over and actually have distribution of it here in the United States. Zehnder and others, like Aturas Stinger inventor Ian Johnstone, say consumer demand will determine the extent of production and distribution of the Stinger in the U.S. JOHNSTONE: Our intention is to put about half a dozen machines into the Washington  California region this season. We don't want to lose track of our ability to service the machines so in a sense we are putting our toe in the water. More details about the tour, including upcoming dates and locations, can be found at the Propane Education and Research Council's website, www.usepropane.com.