The trio of highschool inventors have developed the FrostEase Flexi Mat device, which is designed to stop water troughs from icing over - a real issue during winter in the Mackenzie Country and other parts of the country.

Year-12 student Amy Hay, 16, and her Year-11 colleagues Hamish Ryall, 16, and Luke Jordan, 15 - as part of the Young Enterprise Scheme (YES) - have invented the devie that is inserted into water troughs to prevent them from freezing over. All three students say they are keen to pursue careers in the agriculture/farming sectors.

Hay says the idea for the device came after her father challenged her and her teammates to come up with a way to stop freezing over as their YES project this year and it grew from there.

The trio did some research and found there were no such products on the market - although they had seen electrical water heaters used by farmers in the United States to prevent freezing. However, they concluded that such a device would not be practical in NZ.

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