Bruce and Connie Goddard recognized as NIACC Pappajohn Center July Entrepreneurs of the Month

To The Press

A Charles City couple who came up with a solution to a problem are the entrepreneurs of the month for August for the NIACC John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center and the North Iowa Area SBDC.

Bruce Goddard has always been an inventor. With 25 years of experience as a machinist, he was always looking for ways to improve the machines and the parts he worked on.

“He has a way of looking at things and seeing how they can be better,” said his wife, Connie.

Bruce and Connie Goddard of EZ Manufacturing in Charles City are the inventors of the Bale Storm Processor, which began in 2013 when the Goddards came in from working on their farm one evening and Bruce said to Connie, “We have to do something different.”

For years, they had been struggling with frozen net wrap for bedding livestock.

Bruce sat down and designed the first version of his new bale processor. After two years of building, testing and revising, he developed the Bale Storm Processor, the first rear-mount processor on the market.

The rear mounting offered efficiency, effectiveness and safety.

Front-mount bale processors require a large skid loader to operate, which most small to medium farm operations don’t have. A rear-mounted processor, designed to be used with a 75- to 100-hp tractor, is a safer, more efficient, and more cost-effective piece of equipment.

Bruce built the first Bale Storm Processor himself. The hydraulic self-loading lift allows the operator to safely load the bale while remaining in the tractor. Removing net wrap is optional and is easily accomplished.

The rear-mount position allows for visibility while spreading feed or bedding.

The Goddards began to explore the idea of manufacturing and marketing in 2015, and were urged to contact the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center at NIACC.

Connie says, “We’d been using the Bale Storm Processor for a few years and suddenly the seed was planted to come to NIACC and we thought, yeah, we could do this. It’s made a big difference for us. We could share this and make a difference for other farmers.”

Bruce and Connie enrolled in Launch and Grow Your Business, a 10-week course that guides entrepreneurs through the essentials of starting a business, from business plan to customer discovery.

They were voted Most Likely to Succeed by their classmates.

They also completed the Start-Up Factory program offered by Iowa State University, an intensive 26-week course that connected them with business experts and mentors.

“We gained a lot of insight from these programs,” Connie said. “The customer discovery process was amazing. We talked to so many people and learned so many things.”

Bruce and Connie worked with the North Iowa Area SBDC and NIACC Pappajohn Center, as well.

Brook Boehmler, the North Iowa Area SBDC regional director, said working with the Goddards has been exciting.

“Bruce and Connie are passionate about what they do and about sharing this invention to help other farmers,” Boehmler said. “Over the last few years, they’ve worked tirelessly to bring their dream to a reality.”

Bruce was named a finalist for the Innovation Award at the October 2018 NIACC Pappajohn Center Entrepreneur Gala. Wallaces Farmer featured the Bale Storm Processor in a profile published in November 2018.

In the summer of 2019, Bruce and Connie signed a licensing agreement with Kelly Ryan Equipment to manufacture and distribute the Bale Storm Processor.

As dedicated entrepreneurs, however, Bruce and Connie aren’t taking a break. They’re always looking to the future, devising new ways to improve their equipment, and focusing on their core values: creating innovative, safe, efficient, and functional ways to help their fellow farmers.

To learn more about the Bale Storm Processor, visit their website at www.balestorm.com.