Jay Schmuecker began developing the world’s first hydrogen and ammonia fueled tractor on his family farm near Blairstown, Iowa, in 2010. Despite the enormous significance of the technology, most residents in this rural area were unaware that Schmuecker’s Solar-Hyrdrogen-Ammonia System was being developed right in their community.
This year, after Schmuecker and his lead designer and developer of the system, David Toyne, made upgrades to the tractor’s fueling and control components to improve performance, the C-Free tractor was featured in Blairstown’s annual Sauerkraut Days parade.
To highlight today’s technology versus the implements that powered farms in the past, Schmuecker drove his 1940 Farmall tractor pulling a horse-drawn grain wagon that was commonplace in rural Iowa 100 years ago. Dennis Crow, who farmed the land, drove the C-Free Renew tractor.
Schmuecker, who spent 50+ years as a NASA engineer in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Toyne continue to modify and improve the self-sustaining system to fuel the equipment and fertilize crops on the Iowa farm, while also working with others around the globe to develop future applications using the technology.
The future of farming is being developed in Blairstown, Iowa today. To make a global impact on the world tomorrow.
