On the 22nd of May BBC NI radio reported a world first for N.Ireland, exemplifying the indigenous ingenuity and enterprise.
The fanfare surrounded the world's apparently first automatic mushroom picking machine.
Tom Grant an engineer from Guildford Co Down has devised a "yoke" that will, according to him, half the labour requirements for mushroom growing. He also said that the machine would help stop the decline in the Northern Ireland mushroom industry.
Pressed on the cost of his new machine Tom would not divulge the cost, but said that the payback on the capital investment would take 2 years.
No doubt we will hear more about this ingenious innovation in the months ahead.
