A combine-sharing program touted as the first of its kind in the country aims to give farmers a chance to make some money off expensive equipment that sits idle after harvest is finished.

FarmLink announced Wednesday its farmer-to-farmer program, which allows farmers with spring or early summer harvests in Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas to rent their combines to farmers with later harvests farther north.

The Kansas City, Missouri-based company picks up the combines, maintains and repairs them as needed and then returns them to their owners. The company contends growers can make as much as $40,000 a year in extra income from equipment that would otherwise sit mostly unused.

The program begins with the 2015 harvest season, but the company already has begun signing up farmers.