With the cost of land ownership and rising rental expenses, we need to look for ways to get more from our existing land base. How can we produce more yield with our existing land base?  Increasing plant populations is a logical first step.  Squeezing more plants and hopefully more yield from every acre is certainly a reasonable option, but that increases our cost per acre for seed, fertilizer and crop protectants.  With this approach, it will clearly take more water as well.  While we cannot control the sunshine, water is a controllable input…

A Riverscreen is a brand of suction device that has been time tested for several challenging irrigation applications.  Any surface water source is likely to have debris that can cause plugging issues at the smallest orifice in your irrigation system. If you are using pivots, that will typically be in the first few spans. 

Successful Farmers have learned to control the controllables.

Water is one of those inputs.

Adequate water is critical to crop development and yield.

Drainage and water application are significant factors.

Proper timing and amounts will reap substantial benefits.

We are blessed in Michigan during the growing season to get some reasonable precipitation and have access to more freshwater than most.   Are you getting the most from your irrigation system?  Do you know the gallons per minute entering your system?  Do you feel confident that you are maximizing plant yield by getting the right amount of water across your irrigated fields?

Watering season has often been called “Irritation Season.”  As crop farms have grown by acres, the number of pivots and the distances between them have grown substantially.  What used to be a quick trip to the pump station out by the well or the pivot point across the road now takes more time and fuel for startups, shutdowns, or safety checks.  Many of those trips can now be performed remotely using telemetry.  While these options are not completely new, reliability, functionality, and options have improved significantly in recent years.  New products are available at a steady pace…

If you are considering center pivot irrigation for your farm due to escalating land prices, higher inputs and lost yield, let’s look at a few basics impacting economic feasibility. While every farm has its own unique characteristics, some basic metrics should be considered.

Dairy farms are busy places with time demands that never go away, ever.  Now you want me to manage irrigation on top of all my other responsibilities?  What if I showed you several benefits that could save time, money and improve yield?  Would that get your attention?

Three years ago, Michigan Valley Irrigation was approached to assist in proof of concept for a new technology, intending to use cameras on pivots to identify weeds, insects, and nutrient deficiencies. Partnering with Prospera Technologies and Valmont, we installed and supported camera systems with the mission of gathering data for machine learning…