Charlie Balmer revolutionized how agricultural inputs are applied.
He made granular products practical with his Airmax and Airspread systems that today are used around the world.
He pioneered the split duct system, allowing simultaneous application of two granular products, such as herbicide and fertilizer.
Through his lifetime, he held 24 patents, but made many of his inventions freely available to the ag community, including his metering rollers that are used in many air carts today.
Balmer died in September of cancer at age 76.
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He founded Valmar Manufacturing in 1977, and is also recognized as the man who popularized farmer-owned high clearance sprayers with his patented Wilmar AirRide design, which went into production in 1993.
Balmer’s most recent quest was a new hydraulic drive system that would eliminate the power loss, poor fuel efficiency and orbital motor burnout problems that farmers face with conventional hydrostatic drive.
He intended his Hydraulic Power Wheel to replace the hydrostatic transmission and orbital motor.
His first Power Wheel prototype was able to pull a heavy forklift across the floor of his Valmar factory at Elie, Man. His next step was to have been four high-horsepower prototype Power Wheels to replace the entire drive system on a Versatile 4×4 tractor, but illness derailed the project.
Crop dusting was another of Balmer’s passions. In 1961, when prairie farmers were just beginning to recognize the value of agricultural chemicals, Balmer bought a 90 hp Piper PA11 aircraft and fitted it with an aerial application device of his own making. With that one small aircraft he founded Elie Air Spray.
Balmer earned his diploma as an ag implement mechanic in his home country of Switzerland. He immigrated to Canada in 1952 and went to work as a mechanic in the Elie area.
His close working relationship with farmers and their equipment led him to invent and develop implements with the farmer foremost in mind.
