Mr Blanchard (24), who comes from a farm in the Dansey Pass, and Andrew Begg invented the Ezzy K, a K-Line irrigation mover.
It allows the operator to drive up to the K-Line attachment point, connect to it and move to a new location, then disconnect it without getting off the ATV.
Mr Blanchard, who is studying for a diploma in farm management, said the engineering class was given the task of identifying problems in agriculture that could have an engineering-based solution.
They came up with several ideas, including a tool to apply fence battens, a safety cut-out switch for irrigation guns and the original concept for the Ezzy K K-Line irrigation mover.
The original concept was a class effort and was a hook system that caught an attachment on the side of the bike and then swung round to behind the bike.
"We built a rough prototype of this design and we immediately saw that there were several flaws in the design," Mr Blanchard said.
Major issues were the number of moving parts and the fact the whole design was based on a spring-loaded hinge system, which could be prone to failure or be difficult to use.
After thinking about the components of a good simple design with no or few moving parts, he designed a rail system that worked like a hooked coat rail projecting from the side of the bike, which would catch a hook attached to the end of a K-Line.
That idea worked well but there were problems with the pick-up and release of the tow attachment.
It also had a tendency to drop the tow as pressure came off the towline.
He then devised a system that used a second rail which caught a ball standing on a stick, which then ran round the rails to the rear of the bike until it hit a stopper which was pulled up when the operator wanted to release the tow.
Mr Blanchard attended Duntroon Primary School and Waitaki Boys High School before completing a certificate in automotive trades at Otago Polytechnic and then doing his apprenticeship at Warrens Ford in Palmerston.
He then worked on farms before moving to Perth to work in a garage, after which he spent 18 months on mine sites.
He returned to Lincoln to complete a diploma in agriculture last year.
After leaving university, Mr Blanchard said he would probably work in the field of agricultural engineering.