Firestone to distribute flat

Shark Wheel manufactures an air-free tire designed to eliminate the headache of tire changes and maintenance on irrigation rigs. Their SWIFT tire can be ordered now through Firestone Ag dealers.

Title: Associate Digital Director, Successful Farming Resides In: Des Moines & Grandview, Iowa Hometown: Columbus City, Iowa Education: Iowa State University Expertise: Farm equipment and news Twitter:@Roots_Journey

Summary

Manage daily newsroom-style digital content creation and distribution strategy for Agriculture.com Former Digital Content Editor, Digital Content Manager, Managing Editor – News for Successful Farming magazine, Agriculture.com, and the Successful Farming TV Show. Natalina has covered stories ranging from infrastructure and young farmers to new machinery introductions and USDA programs.

Experience Natalina Sents Bausch grew up in southeast Iowa, active in 4H and FFA. Immediately after graduating from college, she spent a year visiting farmers and ranchers in all 50 states. Through blogs and photography, the project told the stories of more than 100 farm families. In 2017, Natalina joined the Successful Farming team to cover new farm machinery and news coverage for Agriculture.com. The role expanded to include managing content distribution through newsletters, social media, and search. Now, in addition to content creation, Natalina handles tracking digital metrics and manages several content provider relationships. Education * BS in Agricultural Business from Iowa State University in 2016

Fixing flat tires on irrigation pivots during the growing season can be a miserable task. Shark Wheel manufactures an air-free tire designed to eliminate the headache of tire changes and maintenance on center pivot and lateral move irrigation rigs. The company's SWIFT tire is now available for order through Firestone Ag dealers.

SWIFT stands for Sine Wave Innovative Flotation and Traction. The non-pneumatic tire features a sine wave shaped tread design to minimize rutting. This exclusive tread design creates a helical, DNA-shaped travel path between two out-of-phase wheels on the irrigation tower. The trailing wheel can fill in the ruts created by the leading wheel by pushing soil back toward the center. A bidirectional tread pattern enables the same function when the rig travels in the opposite direction.

The tire's tread paddles are made of spring steel with over-molded rubber.

The paddles were modeled after a seagull's wings in flight. The flexing of the paddles increases the tire's surface area, reducing stress on the drivetrain.

The tire's modular design enables quick repairs and customizations.

A high traction option with elevated paddles is available for fields with difficult or gumbo soil.

The SWIFT's rolling circumference is 140 inches.

Shark Wheel boasts test data indicating a reduction in rutting from 14 inches with a pneumatic tire to one inch with SWIFT.

"Firestone Ag is committed to delivering best-in-class performance to farmers, and rutting is a major pain point for farmers with irrigation systems. The Shark Wheel SWIFT provides an inventive, proven solution that can deliver results," says Tony Orlando of Bridgestone.

Shark Wheel has been testing the SWIFT tire in the agricultural industry for four years. The company is a 3-time government grant recipient through the National Science Foundation.

Testing has not been thoroughly conducted for swing arm performance. The SWIFT tire warranty does not cover swing arm installation.

Shark Wheel is working on reducing soil compaction with a solution for sprayers. "Although there are differences in the required performance, such as on road use and higher speeds, much of the SWIFT's geometry is expected to be used for sprayer vehicles," Shark Wheel product literature says.

Firestone will display more information about their partnership with Shark Wheel at the 2023 Commodity Classic in Orlando, Florida.

"This partnership with Firestone Ag will strengthen our ability to reach farmers and match the power of air-free technology with Firestone's world-class service and quality control," says Zack Fleishman of Shark Wheel.

Shark Wheel SWIFT can be ordered now through certified Firestone Ag dealers with inventory available starting March 2023. For pricing details, contact your local Firestone Ag dealer. Pricing will be comparable with the airless irrigation solutions in the market today.