Synergy of Weed Science & Engineering

Revolutionizing flaming equipment and techniques for certified organic weed and pest control

Our Mission

Provide safe and efficient flame weeding equipment that yield higher quality treatments

Our Approach To

Flaming

Not all flame weeders are created equal. Flame weeding is like a surgery, where a malignancy needs to be removed without causing damage to the surrounding normal tissue. Research at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln guided the development of AFI flame weeders and AFI flame weeding recipes which kill the weeds without causing damage to the surrounding crop. AFI’s optimized designs have proven to maintain the crop yield at or near the same level as hand weeding. Poorly designed flame weeders with no proven treatment recipes, although they may eliminate all the weeds, can cause lasting damage to the crop and drop the yield below the capacity of a given field.

5-7

Bushels/Acre

Yield increase in soybeans

20-60

Bushels/Acre

Yield increase in corn

$400

Per Acre

Potential increase in corn crop revenue with AFI equipment

2

Days of Flaming

Potential payoff period on an investment in AFI equipment

Control Weeds.

Increase Yield.

Z

Safety First

Z

Specially designed Hoods

Z

Robust Torches

Z

Electronic ignition & Flame detection

Z

Flame Weeding Manual

Z

Convenience & Flexibility

Z

Ecological weed control

49+

Years of Research

49+

Years of Research 

Testimonials

“We can’t say that we have used all of its capabilities, but we like it and we would like to order a second 12-Row.”

Steve Merfeld, Charles City, IA

“It helped us get those weeds right in the row, and it gave us a bigger window of time to wait on the cultivation when the corn was 2-3 inches tall.”

Anonymous

“Ignition is a really nice addition; the flame detection feedback is especially nice. It is heads and tails above the manual pilot systems.”

Scott Shriver, Jefferson, IA

“I never felt unsafe; that was nice”

Dean Wesen, Bow, WA

“I think the 12-Row flamer did a good job killing the smaller weeds that were growing in the row while not damaging the soybeans. There are many things I like about your machine.”

Joseph Olson, Atkinson, NE

Meet the Team

George Gogos

CEO and Managing Director

40+ years of research in combustion

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Chris Bruening

Director, Engineering

12+ years of research and development on flame weeding equipment

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Lanny Nissen

Director, Manufacturing

40+ years of experience in product development and manufacturing

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Stevan Knezevic

Director, Agronomy Research

30+ plus years of research in integrated weed management and extension work

Read More +
Learn More About Us

Our Vision:
Revolutionize flame weeding equipment and techniques for weed and pest control.

Our Mission:
Provide safe and efficient flaming equipment that yields higher quality treatments.

Synergy of Weed Science and Engineering

Agricultural Flaming Innovations (AFI) is an equipment research, development, and manufacturing company that is helping to solve the biggest problem for farmers: weeds. The collaboration between engineers and weed scientists allows the AFI team to offer farmers a highly innovative product with key innovations that U.S. competitors have failed to bring to the market. AFI’s equipment provides weed control in numerous agronomic crops like corn, soybean, sunflower and sorghum.

AFI has addressed the issues with flaming through the key innovations of hood technology (patented), efficient vaporizer/torch unit (patented), an electronic ignition and flame detection system (patented), and treatment recipes for individual crops. These innovations offer farmers four major improvements in flame weeding equipment: increased safety (#1 top priority), increased energy efficiency, higher quality weed control, especially in windy conditions, and improved ease of use. In collaboration with the University of Nebraska, AFI has also made significant contributions to flaming treatment knowledge. Testing has shown that an AFI flamer can significantly improve weed control levels. These results offer organic producers reduced expenses through lower weed control costs and increased crop revenue through higher yields. The flaming treatments cost from $5-10/acre (depending on type of treatment: banded or full flaming), and even more important, it can effectively treat weeds that grow within the crop row, which are typically more difficult to control through cultivation. As a result, using AFI flame weeders can regularly increase crop revenue from $300-400 per acre through increased yields (compared to revenues and yields obtained through cultivation alone).

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