Squeeze More Value from Every Inch of Pivot Iron
Has inflation made you think twice about your next building, equipment purchase, or irrigation project? We at Michigan Valley understand those reservations. Let us take a minute to step back and consider the value perspective and even push a little harder on coverage.
Valley has continued to invest in irrigation related companies to support and add value to the industry leading structure Valley pivots have earned. In recent years, the technology side has advanced at a blistering pace. When you are forced to make decisions at that kind of pace, the likelihood of winning every time will decline. The winners, however, will prove to be bigger advances with huge returns. AgSense and Prospera have been a couple of huge wins adding value to your growing pivot options. Have you calculated the savings on labor, fuel, and equipment from reduced trips to the field to operate and monitor pivots at remote locations or switch valves on water supply lines? Have you purchased or at least considered using pivot mounted cameras, to scout fields and help diagnose weed pressure, insect damage, disease presence or nutrient deficiencies? The potential value here could be even greater than what telemetry provides. What if you paired telemetry with cameras?
As your dealer, we have worked hard at providing
ancillary equipment options to address unique
challenges for each of your irrigation system
designs. Suction options, priming issues,
topography and elevation barriers, power supply
limitations and unique pumping configurations
are a few that come to mind quickly.
Outside the box thinking and countless completed
projects have added to solved predicaments.
Adding an injection pump to utilize your pivots as
applicators has been a huge resource that is still
underutilized.
In addition to applying needed
nutrients and crop protection products, combining an
injection pump system with pivot mounted cameras
detecting the need is a game changer.
Efficiently and timely applying yield enhancing
products without additional application
equipment that were detected without walking
your fields was unimaginable just a few years ago!
As labor challenges grow along with your farm’s geographical footprint, how valuable can this technology be? You can have quality crop status information at your fingertips in real-time along with a simple method to react quickly by adding product to your next pivot pass. No this is not a dream.
It is common knowledge in the center pivot world that long, full turn machines are more economical. While many Michigan farms experience barriers to this rule, more options are available today. Corner arms, benders and drop spans have been developed to gain more acres when barriers present themselves. If it has been a few years since you decided not to utilize these options to gain acres, take another look. Were your crop inputs anywhere near today’s levels, adding additional risk? Were you using telemetry, injection pumps or camera mounted scouting at the time? More risk and added features will surely change the results. The same concept applies to removing barriers, bridging ditches, and working with your neighbors. Squeezing out a few more acres from each machine has never had so many options. Your last discussion on watering your neighbor’s field with a pivot on your property likely did not include spoon feeding with an injection pump, telemetry or scouting with cameras.
Every acre you cover utilizing recent technology and other available options brings greater yield potential from your pivots. I did not even mention huge gains in water efficiency, sprinkler uniformity, or variable rate irrigation options.
While we are all feeling the impact of inflation, we will press on. Michigan Valley Irrigation is dedicated to helping you navigate through complex decisions and stay up to date on the latest advancements in irrigation. Today, we are so much more than, “Water, where you want it, when you need it.” We are truly - Here to Help You Grow!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Pete is the marketing manager for Michigan Valley Irrigation, having joined the company in 2016. He was raised on a dairy farm in western New York and graduated from Cornell University with a B.S. in agricultural economics. His entire working career of over 37 years has been involved in agriculture. A farmer helping farmers. When away from Michigan Valley he operates, Joyful Noise Farm, a small livestock and produce farm and spends time with his family.
