3 Reasons Why Your Operation Needs Smart Irrigation

Irrigation technology isn’t a new trend in the ag industry. But over the years, it’s come a long way. Today, growers can find the most innovative and cutting-edge irrigation tech solutions to help them do and yield more.

These solutions help provide the freedom to see and manage their irrigation operations from anywhere. And they help deliver insights and data to make informed decisions with confidence and peace of mind. All of this adds up to savings that can make a real difference to your bottom line.

It’s no surprise that irrigation tech and farming automation are front and center at many of this year’s ag industry trade shows. So, let’s take a deeper look at the top reasons why your operation needs smart irrigation.

Reason #1: Smart irrigation can help save resources.

According to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), there were around 2 million U.S. farms and 895 million acres of farming land in 2021. While that may sound impressive, the truth is that the number of U.S. farms continues to decline slowly. In fact, there were 6.8 million farms in 1935.

This means growers must make every acre and every drop of water count when it comes to meeting the world’s steadily increasing food demand. Precision irrigation solutions are designed to do just that, by ensuring the right speed, level and placement of water delivery—an essential part of efficient water management and conservation.

Beyond needing to maximize their farmable land, growers are also faced with water usage limitations, rising fertilizer costs, changing weather patterns and more, which can make irrigating a challenge. However, solutions like FieldNET^TM Advisor by Lindsay can help take the guesswork out of irrigation.

FieldNET Advisor combines historical data and weather information with current field data and soil maps to produce valuable analytics and irrigation recommendations. So, you know when, where and how much to irrigate based on your crops’ needs. 

The ability to create precise and efficient irrigation schedules and plans not only can help you conserve water and other resources; it also can help save time and effort. This leads to our next reason why your operation needs smart irrigation.

Reason #2: Smart irrigation can help save time.

With labor shortages and the additional demands being placed on growers, time is a precious resource. Many don’t have the bandwidth to juggle walking every row, checking every pivot manually, taking care of their family and working to check off a never-ending to-do list. That’s where FieldNET^TM comes in to help.

FieldNET provides remote monitoring, control and analyzing capabilities that give you the freedom to go anywhere while still being connected to your operation. It offers powerful features and product options that can integrate seamlessly with your irrigation equipment, from pump to pivot, no matter the brand.

If you’re looking for the irrigation technology and insights of FieldNET with the pivot performance and durability of Zimmatic irrigation systems, then you’ll definitely want to check out the game-changing smart pivot.

While not yet available commercially, this revolutionary pivot will move beyond traditional water application to offer advanced agronomics, crop health, anomaly detection, predictive machine health analysis, downtime reduction, sustainability boosts and the list goes on. Just think about how much time (and money and resources) all that knowledge could save you—and your operation.

Reason #3: Smart irrigation can help save money.

Making the switch to smart irrigation is a long-term investment. While there are financial programs like EQIP to help growers implement more efficient irrigation solutions, it’s important to find the right solution for your needs the first time. When you do, you can see valuable cost savings.

From single, small fields to large, multi-field operations, Zimmatic pivots and lateral move irrigation systems are designed to expand your fields’ potential with reliable and precise performance.

Zimmatic pivots have the industry’s thickest pipeline so they can run in the roughest terrain, and also offer the fastest center driveline in the business for more efficient field coverage, cycle after cycle. Our machines also have a proprietary uni-knuckle span for stress-free flexibility and consistent water flow as well as a full flow collector ring—found only on Zimmatic—to eliminate water restriction.

We know you don’t have time for downtime, and that’s why each feature of Zimmatic pivots is in service of a longer-lasting, more precise, better-performing irrigation system.

Ready to learn more about how smart irrigation can benefit your operation? Find your local Zimmatic dealer today!