Made in Winkler invention garners international attention

Producers have a more efficient way to separate the wheat from the chaff thanks to a new style of concave invented by Thunderstruck Ag CEO Jeremy Matuszewski.

It’s an invention that has already garnered international attention and was listed as one of Time Magazine’s best inventions of 2025.

Matuszewski said he started working with combines in 2016 and quickly became aware of some of the challenges involved in the concave, the part that separates the grain from the chaff.

“I realized there was an issue, but I didn’t really have a solve for it,” he said.

Farmers normally run different concaves for different crops or use inserts to make them work.

“They were always changing something based on the crop,” he said. “Maybe cover plates, maybe inserts, maybe changing concaves. Typically, in Manitoba we grow a lot of different crops, and you could change the concaves quite a few different times.”

His product, called Razor’s Edge Concaves, are made for different combines and can be adjusted inside the combine by changing settings.

That’s led to other advantages.

“Because of how we have made the separating area more efficient to increase that capacity, that allows the increase in ground speed because typically before you’d have to slow down so you don’t put it out the back,” he said.

Other changes also allow a reduction in fuel use.

Some of the changes are simple.

“Our bar being notched is what leads to increased grain quality,” he said.

Matuszewski said after coming up with the idea he reached out to Winkler based Ironmen Industries who came up with 25 prototypes. He also started the patenting process.

But even then, he wasn’t sure it would achieve the success it has today.

“I actually didn’t think it was going to work to be honest,” he said.

In 2023, he tested his design in Australia.

“That’s when I knew it was going to work,” he said. “What we were able to do in Australia with those combines with our prototype was pretty spectacular.”

Prototypes were also tested across North America the following year.

Thunderstruck Ag launched it at three western Canadian farm shows, Agri-Trade in Alberta, Crop Production in Saskatchewan and Ag Days in Brandon.

They’ve also sourced a manufacturer, an Illinois based company that’s been building concaves for 25 years.

This year 450 have entered the market.

“Of course, no invention is ever fully done,” he said. “We’ve made a few changes that we’re rolling out into the 2026 models.”

The name of the product is actually linked to the name of the company, and a song that was playing in a vehicle a long time ago.

“I came up with that (Thunderstruck) on the way to a hockey game I was coaching my son in, and the song came on,” he said, referring to AC/DC’s 1990 hit Thunderstruck.

After Googling the meaning he discovered to be thunderstruck means to be shocked or awed.

“Of course, it’s one of my favourite songs so I named the company Thunderstruck,” he said.

The product name began as kind of a joke, he said.

Because the song Thunderstruck was on the album Razor’s Edge, he began referring to the concave with that name.

Ironmen made the concave prototype with a sharper edge than Matuszewski anticipated.

“What we found is that sharpened edge made a big difference,” he said. “It was pretty simple from there. It just stuck.”

Thunderstruck Ag continues to sell a variety of products including a variety of concaves.

Meanwhile his concave has been marketed around the world.

While the idea may have come from him, Matuszewski said it took the entire Thunderstruck family to bring it to fruition.

“It’s one thing to have an idea,” he said. “It’s a whole other thing to market it, sell it, inventory it and order it.”

“It’s such a group effort,” he added. “No one person can pull it off.”

To learn more, go to ThunderstruckAg.com.