Press
After a couple years of tinkering, Michael McGowen’s company, Carts & Tools, has begun making and selling battery powered tillers, weeders and other tools that can be charged with a solar panel, easily maneuvered on small plots and greatly increase one worker’s productivity. No noise, exhaust fumes or diesel bills.
A crowd of 60 people packed the Corvallis Sports Park on Tuesday night to participate in a game-show-like entrepreneurial competition and time with the new OSU Accelerator.
While tending his potato field in mid-summer, Michael McGowen felt the heat on his aching back and saw the growing task ahead of him and thought, "there’s got to be a better way." He challenged himself to create a versatile tool that used solar power and an electric motor. He ended up with Carts & Tools, a store that will create, build and sell all kinds of tools for farmers and growers, and it calls Corvallis home.