It used to be that farmers stopped irrigating when water troughed in the turn row. Now, they’re increasingly regulated via government bureaucracy to restrict water usage. From careful crop budgeting to daily management, this evolution is transforming irrigation practices. And technology is leading the way.
“Before, we could drill a well just about anywhere and pump as much as we wanted,” says John Thom, vice president at T-L Irrigation. “Now, we’re getting allocated. The crop needs ‘this much’ water, and with flood irrigation, that allocation is going to get used up pretty quickly in five years.”
Compared to start-and-stop systems, Thom says T-L’s continuous-drive machines uniformly distribute water where it’s needed. This reduces water use and improves filtration. Customizing center pivots to meet the exact climate, topography, and crop and soil requirements can further reduce water usage. Other technologies like pressure regulators between sprinkler heads ensure precise water delivery.
As more farmers move toward “more economic or efficient” irrigation, Thom says center pivots are taking an increasingly important role — and not just for irrigation. Unlike tractors and combines that await use in farm sheds, center pivots are always in the field.
“Let’s figure out how we can apply chemigation or put on fertilizer. Or if we have fungicide issues, apply it through [the center pivot] instead of spraying it annually all the time,” he says. “All of those [inputs and machines] are getting more and more expensive, and many farmers already have a pretty nice tool on hand to do it.”
Tech advancements
It’s becoming apparent that merging disparate on-farm tasks into one machine is necessary to weather anticipated future labor shortages. Automating center pivots even more via artificial intelligence, soil sensors and irrigation management systems is a step in that direction, although there are several notable smaller steps that must be taken before they can be self-sufficient, Thom says.
For one, he says technology must become more durable and able to handle the harsh environments they’re deployed in. Alternative power solutions for extremely remote fields, such as solar panels, will also be necessary.
“If we don’t make technology durable enough, we’re going to have more and more complex issues in the growing season when a farmer can’t afford to be shut down,” Thom says. “It’s a balance. We need to install technology, but it has to be robust enough to be able to withstand harsh elements.”
Simultaneously, Thom says T-L is focused on better understanding the machine’s granular operation:
- What causes faults?
- Can more data be collected?
- How can center-pivot manufacturers maximize productivity and uptime?
By causation, answering these questions with technological solutions will help farmers reduce their water usage and become more efficient producers.
“We have transducers built in to create digital pressure readouts,” says Thom about T-L’s Precision Point Touch Control, an advanced technology not found a decade ago. “It ties that [data] together using telemetry hardware in real time, all the time, to show the pivot’s running pressure,” he adds. “If something gets erratic or goes haywire with their well, or maybe their sprinkler blows off [because they’re all mechanical machines], farmers can see that fluctuation pretty quick and receive an alert.”